Method and system for exploring similarities

ABSTRACT

A method and computer readable medium for exploring similar users and items of a media service. In one aspect, a user can explore for similar users iteratively. In one aspect, a user interface is generated that displays a user selectable indicia representing a similar member function for allowing a user to search a media service for at least one other user which has a degree of similarity with respect to the searching user. In another aspect, a method facilitates the search of such a similar user within a media service.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 60/657,222, filed Feb. 28, 2005, entitled A SYSTEM AND METHOD FORDELIVERING MEDIA OVER A NETWORK, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 60/678,718, filed May 5, 2005, entitled A SYSTEM AND METHOD FORDELIVERING MEDIA OVER A NETWORK, both of which are hereby incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a method and computerreadable medium for exploring similar users and items of a mediaservice.

2. Background of the Invention

The expansion of the Internet and the World Wide Web (“web”) has givencomputer users the enhanced ability to listen to and to watch variousdifferent forms of media through their computers. This media can be inthe form of audio music, music videos, television programs, sportingevents or any other form of audio or video media that a user wishes towatch or listen to.

In the past, users were able to purchase some form of removable media(e.g., compact disc), place the media into their computer's drive andlisten to the song that was on their removable media. As time evolved,users were able to take the music that was on that compact disc store iton their computers and listen to it locally. More recently, web systemswere developed which allowed a user log on to a network such as theInternet and, using a media player, either listen to specific mediachosen from a group of media that a particular service has to offer orlisten to an array of media offerings such as a radio station whereindifferent songs or other forms of media are combined to allow a user tolisten to a group of songs in sequence, whether chosen by the user or bythe operators of the network service. For example such a service isYahoo!™ Music. Many media players, services and other software toolsenable media to be organized by a user or a service into playlists,which, as the name connotes, are groups or lists of media files or fileidentifiers that can be used to effect playback by a user in a sequenceor other selected or random order.

Newer technology has also allowed computer users to purchase portabledevices that are able to store a user's media, making the user's mediaportable in the sense that a user can take his or her music with themwherever they may be going. These devices permit the storage andtransport of the actual media files that are downloaded from a user'scomputer or a network onto the portable device. These portable devicesare able to store individual media files and/or playlists that a userwishes to make portable. Thus, if a user has a certain media file ontheir computer the user can transfer that media file onto the portabledevice and transport it to locations different from the location wherethe user's computer system is located. Although these devices arepopular today, they do have numerous drawbacks in that a user isseverely limited in the range of what type of media they can store ontheir portable device and the ease of storing such media. This isbecause these devices only allow a user the capability of transportingmedia that is available locally on their computer as well as media thatis available from a network service that offers such media. It is ashortcoming in the art that there is no system by which the user couldbroaden the range of media that can be made portable so as not to beconstrained by the bounds and limits of certain Internet services' rangeof media or offerings. It would also be advantageous if a system orservice was able to create a playlist and/or suggest different media fora user based on the user's previous experience and then make that mediaavailable at multiple media enabled devices as well as made portable, sothat the user need not individually download each specific song and/orother media that the user likes but rather, in addition to the user'sown selections the system would be able to grant the user more varietyas well as spontaneity in the media available to the user no matterwhere the user might be located.

Another by-product of the expansion of the web is the interactionbetween different users by various different means such as email and/orinstant messaging. This interaction has resulted in the ability forcomputer users to share many different types of information. Forexample, one user may send another user the Universal Resource Locator(URL) which points to a specific website that one user wishes the otheruser to experience. In another situation one user may wish to sendanother user a media file that they wish the other user to experience.This can be accomplished by sending the other user the actual media fileattached to an email or instant message. On the other hand one user maysend another user an URL, which links to a particular media file and isstored on a particular network. All of these systems however utilize anemail, instant messaging or similar service to transfer informationregarding the particular media that the user wishes to share and/orrecommend. What is lacking in each of the currently available systems isa system in which a user may utilize their own media player tocommunicate their likes or dislikes for a particular media item toanother user. It is a shortcoming in the art that there is no mediasystem or service available wherein a user can, from within the mediasystem and/or an enhanced media player, communicate with another userand share media with that other user and/or express a like or dislikefor particular media. It would also be beneficial over known systems fora user to not have to rely on utilizing multiple programs to share orrecommend music or other media to other users. It would be similarlyadvantageous over known systems to have one media player or to be moreprecise, a media engine which is able to play media as well as address amultiplicity of other user's media related needs and thus enable theuser to have a more enhanced media experience.

An additional by-product of the expansion of computer related technologyis that a single user in various circumstances may have more than onecomputer or media capable device located in numerous different locationsthrough which a user may wish to experience their media. In the past,the users who wished to transfer or transport media files betweendifferent locations would have to go through the cumbersome steps ofeither transferring the media files by hand (e.g., on a compact disc),emailing or instant messaging the media file to themselves and thenopening the file at a second location, or attempting to locate the mediafile on a particular media network service and then once again loadingthat particular media at a second computer location

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for exploringsimilar users of a media service from a media management applicationcomprising generating a user interface that displays a user selectableindicia representing a similar member function, wherein the similarmember function allows a first user to search for at least one otheruser having a degree of similarity with respect to the first user;receiving, a user selection action from the first user of the indiciaindicating the first user's desire to identify at least one user of theservice that is similar to the first user; accessing an affinity enginethat generates a first list of at least one similar user in the service,the similar user having a first degree of similarity with respect to thefirst user, the degree of similarity based at least in part upon theuser and the similar user's media interaction behavior; and displayingat least one identifier and information associated with the similaruser, wherein selecting the identifier causes the user interface todisplay a second list of at least one second similar user in theservice, the second similar user having a second degree of similaritywith respect to the similar user.

In another embodiment, the present invention includes a computerreadable medium comprising software code for a media managementapplication, the code configured to implement functions comprising:generating a user interface that displays a user selectable indiciarepresenting a similar member function, wherein the similar memberfunction allows a first user to search for at least one other userhaving a degree of similarity with respect to the first user; receivinga user selection action from the first user of the indicia indicatingthe first user's desire to identify at least one user of the servicethat is similar to the first user; accessing an affinity engine thatgenerates a first list of at least one similar user in the service, thesimilar user having a first degree of similarity with respect to thefirst user, the degree of similarity based at least in part upon theuser and the similar user's media interaction behavior; and displayingat least one identifier and information associated with the similaruser, wherein selecting the identifier causes the user interface todisplay a second list of at least one second similar user in theservice, the second similar user having a second degree of similaritywith respect to the similar user.

In another embodiment, the present invention includes a method forexploring similar users of a media service comprising: receiving, from amedia management application, similar member search criteria, the searchcriteria representing a first user's desire to search the service for atleast one other user having a degree of similarity with respect to thefirst user; accessing an affinity engine that generates a first list ofat least one similar user of the service, the similar user having afirst degree of similarity with respect to the first user, the degree ofsimilarity based on at least in part upon the user's and the similaruser's media interaction behavior; and sending, to the media managementapplication, at least one identifier and information associated with thesimilar user; receiving, from the first user, a user selection action ofthe at least one identifier;

accessing, upon selection of the at least one identifier, the affinityengine that generates a second list of at least one second similar userin the service, the second similar user having a second degree ofsimilarity with respect to the similar user; and sending, to the mediamanagement application, at least one identifier and informationassociated with the second similar user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawing figures, which form a part of this application,are illustrative of embodiments of the present invention and are notmeant to limit the scope of the invention in any manner, which scopeshall be based on the claims appended hereto.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating an exemplary system architecture ofone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustrating an exemplary network architectureaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting the organization and classification of auser's media files according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting a process of bookmarking media accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting a process of locating files according toone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is an additional exemplary user interface of an exemplary mediaengine according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 26 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 29 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 30 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 31 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 32 is an additional exemplary user interface utilizing a searchengine in connection with an exemplary media engine according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 33 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 34 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 35 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 36 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 37 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 38 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 39 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 40 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 41 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 42 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 43 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a playlist withan exemplary media engine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 44 is an additional exemplary user interface used in creating aplaylist with an exemplary media engine according to another embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 45 is a flowchart depicting the creation of an affinity playlist;

FIG. 46 is an additional exemplary user interface used in creating aplaylist with an exemplary media engine according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 47 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a playlist withan exemplary media engine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 48 is an additional exemplary user interface used in creating aplaylist with an exemplary media engine according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 49 is a flowchart depicting a process of generating a playlistaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 50 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 51 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 52 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 53 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 54 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 55 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 56 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 57 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 58 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 59 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 60 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 61 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 62 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 63 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 64 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 65 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 66 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 67 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 68 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 69 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 70 is another exemplary user interface of an exemplary media engineaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 71 is a schematic illustrating exemplary system architecture of oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 72 is a flowchart depicting a process of creating and interactingwith a network according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 73 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a playlist withan exemplary media engine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 74 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a playlist withan exemplary media engine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 75 is an additional exemplary user interface used in creating aplaylist with an exemplary media engine according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 76 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a playlist withan exemplary media engine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 77 is a flowchart depicting the publishing of a playlist accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 78 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a similarusers/members list with an exemplary according to one embodiment;

FIG. 80 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a similarusers/members list with an exemplary according to one embodiment;

FIG. 81 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a similar artistlist with an exemplary according to one embodiment;

FIG. 82 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a similar artistlist with an exemplary according to one embodiment;

FIG. 83 is an exemplary user interface used in creating a similar artistlist with an exemplary according to one embodiment; and

FIG. 84 is a schematic illustrating an exemplary system architecture ofone embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In general, the present invention relates to a system and method fordelivering media over a network and for enhancing a user's experience inexperiencing the media that is transferred over the network. In view ofthe aforementioned shortcomings in the art, it would be advantageous ifa system was available wherein a user had complete and unfettered accessto all media files that he or she has purchased, acquired and/or hasaccess to at any location that they wish. Moreover, as was discussedabove, current systems grant the user the ability to transport a mediafile on a portable device. These portable devices are limited in spaceand it becomes cumbersome to have to upload and download from thedevices to and from each specific location that a user wishes to accessfiles from. Therefore it would be advantageous if a system existed wherea user was able to access these files through a click of a mouse ontheir local system with a minimum of cumbersome intermediary steps.

A certain embodiment of the present invention will now be discussed withreference to the aforementioned figures, wherein like reference numeralsrefer to like components. Referring now to FIG. 1, the architecture ofone embodiment of the present invention is shown in schematic form. Ascan be seen in FIG. 1, a system 100 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention is shown. In general the system 100 allows users 102to experience, share, and otherwise utilize different media. Althoughnumerous exemplary embodiments will be discussed in terms of musicand/or audio files, this invention can also be utilized with any form ofaudio, video, digital or analog media content, as well as any othermedia file type now known or to become known.

Each user 102 utilizes a processor 103, such as personal computer (PC),web enabled cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or thelike, coupled to the Internet 104 by any one of a number of knownmanners. Furthermore, each processor 103 preferably includes an Internetbrowser (not shown), such as that offered by Microsoft Corporation underthe trade name INTERNET EXPLORER, or that offered by Netscape Corp.under the trade name NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR, or the software or hardwareequivalent of the aforementioned components that enable networkedintercommunication between users and service providers and/or amongusers. Each processor also includes a media engine 106 that, among otherfunctions to be further described, provides the ability to convertinformation or data into a perceptible form and manage media relatedinformation or data so that user 102 may personalize their experiencewith various media. Media engine 106 may be incorporated into processor103 by a vendor of processor 103, or obtained as a separate componentfrom a media engine provider or in some other art recognized manner. Aswill be further described below, it is contemplated that media engine106 may be a software application, or a software/firmware combination,or a software/firmware/hardware combination, as a matter of designchoice, that serves as a central media manager for a user andfacilitates the management of all manner of media files and servicesthat the user might wish to access either through a computer or apersonal portable device or through network devices available at variouslocations via a network. As used herein, the term media file is usedgenerically to refer to an item of media, as well as associated metadataand/or network location information for that item.

The media engine 106 to be described herein is interacted with through agraphical user interface and related functionality so that a user,through a central and common entry point, and through a readilyunderstood graphical user interface, can manage and access media filesavailable through disparate sources as well as personally collected andorganized sources. Thus, with initial reference to FIG. 2, an exemplarypreferred graphical user interface for media engine 106 is depicted. Ascan be seen from a review in FIG. 2, the user interface from mediaengine 106 facilitates the management and organization of, in thedepicted example music files, available as part of a user's own storedlibrary of media files, media files available through outside serviceproviders, music available on compact disc or an associated playerdevice, as well as other sources of music or media related information.Thus the media engine, through its user interface, acts as a gateway toall of the user's media wherever it may be found. Thus the media enginecontemplated by the present invention extends beyond the capability ofpresently known media player software by greatly expandingfunctionality, organization capabilities and integration functionsheretofore not found in known media players.

Additionally, in the described embodiment, the processor 103 also runsan instant messaging software program 108 that is used to communicatewith an instant messaging platform 116 and to facilitate the exchange ofmessages and other information between users. One such example of aninstant messaging program is Yahoo! Instant Messenger, or any otherinstant messaging program now known or hereafter to become known.Although this embodiment is preferably described in terms of an instantmessaging program it can also utilize other forms of communication overthe network heretofore or hereafter known. Processor 103 also mayinclude storage of local media files 110 and/or other plug-in programsthat are run through or interact with the media engine 106. Processor103 also preferably is connectable to device 114 such as a compact discplayer and/or other external media file player, commonly referred to asan MP3 player, such as the type sold under the trade name iPod by AppleComputer, Inc., that is used to portably store and play media files.

Additionally, processor 103 may contain Digital Rights Managementsoftware (DRM) 105 that protects the copyrights and other intellectualproperty rights of the user's 102 media files by enabling securedistribution and/or preventing or hampering illegal distribution of themedia files. In one embodiment, DRM 105 encrypts or decrypts the mediafiles for controlled access by authorized users, or alternatively formarking the content with a digital watermark or similar method so thatthe content can not be freely distributed. Media engine 106 preferablyuses the DRM information to ensure that the media files beingexperienced through media engine 106 are not copied to or shared withusers that are unauthorized to listen to or view the content.

As will be discussed in greater detail below, in addition to themessaging platform 116, the system 100 also includes media server 118.In addition to serving media over the Internet 104 to the user 102,media server 118 also preferably includes a media database 120, which inaddition to storing the actual media also stores or communicates withstorage of various metadata attributes of each particular piece ofmedia. Database 120 may be distributed over multiple servers orlocations. Other servers 130 make other content and services availableand may provide administrative services such as managing user logon,service access permission, digital rights management, and other servicesmade available through a service provider. Although some of theembodiments of the invention are described in terms of music,embodiments can also encompass any form of streaming or non-streamingmedia including but not limited to news, entertainment, sports events,web page or perceptible audio or video content. It should be also beunderstood that although the present invention is described in terms ofmedia content and specifically audio content, the scope of the presentinvention encompasses any content or media format heretofore orhereafter known.

In one embodiment of the present invention, similar to the DRM software105 located on the user's 102 processor 103, the media server maintainsits own DRM software 150 which tracks the digital rights of media fileslocated either in the media database 120 or stored on a user's 102processor. Thus, for example, before the media server 118 streams orserves up or transfers any media files to a user 102, it validates therights designation of that particular piece of media and only servesstreams or transfers the file if the user has the appropriate rights.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the users 102, the media server 118 andmessaging platform 116 as well as the other servers 130 arecommunicatively connected via the Internet 104. In alternateembodiments, different components of the system may be communicativelycoupled differently, for example each may be coupled directly to eachother wirelessly or by a local or wide area network (WAN) or the like.Additionally, functional components can be distributed so that certainfunctions of media engine may be performed at media server 118, or viceversa, or distributed in modular fashion for operation at variouslocations throughout the system 100. Thus, the description herein of afunction or component being associated with a particular device orcomponent or location is merely exemplary.

A further architecture of a network 300 according to another embodimentof the present invention will now be discussed with reference to FIG. 3.This embodiment maintains a broader network, which includes a pluralityof users 102 such as, for example, user A, user B, and user C. Each usermaintains at least one processor 103 that contains media engine 106 aswell as a messaging program 108, local media files 110 and a variety ofsoftware plug-ins 112 as was discussed with reference to FIG. 1.Additionally, each of the processors 103 may also contain local devices114 and these processors also preferably contain digital rightsmanagement software or functionality 105, as was discussed above inFIG. 1. The processors 103 may be connected to each other directly orvia the Internet 104 or some other communication network. Additionally,these processors are connected via Internet 104 to media server 118. Aswas discussed above with reference to FIG. 1, media server 118 containsmedia database 120, user information database 122 as well as a digitalrights management 150. Additional databases are also connected to themedia server to manage or service the overall network 300. For example,ratings database 320 contains information about the ratings thatparticular users can apply to a particular media file in numerousdifferent formats that will be discussed later in reference to FIG. 2.Additional databases connected to the media server are playlist database340, which stores playlists that are created by a user that combinesvarious media files which may be located either on processor. 103 ormedia database 120 or elsewhere. These playlists stored in the playlistdatabase can also be made available to various different users 102 ofnetwork 300, as will be discussed later. As was discussed with referenceto FIG. 1, media server 118 is also connected to messaging platform 116which helps interconnect the various users and also stores additionalinformation about particular users. For example, messaging platform 116can also be connected to an additional user information database 360which contains specific information about users' connectivity to themessaging platform and connectivity to each other. For example, thisuser information database may contain information regarding eachparticular user 102 as well as the user's processor 103 as well as theconnections that user processor 103 maintains with other processor103's. The use of this information and how it improves theinterconnection between different users utilizing the messaging platformwill be discussed later in reference to FIG. 71. In another embodiment,media server 118 also includes an affinities engine 4050 that is used tohelp generate affinity playlists as will be discussed below in referenceto FIGS. 47, FIG. 48 and 45.

Additionally as can be seen in FIG. 3, the media server and themessaging platform are also directly connected to other sites or servers380 that are available throughout the Internet. These sites may be sitesthat are publicly accessible to user 102 such as a commerce website orthe sites may be internal sites that are only available to the mediaserver and/or the messaging platform. Within network 300, eachparticular user preferably has a distinct identifier or “user Name”which is used to track the particular user as well as manage allactivity that the user is involved in both via the media server as wellas many other servers connected through that network 300. This user Nameis stored within the user information database 122 and is a distinctidentifier for each particular user. Additional information stored aboutthe user preferably includes the user's personal information such ashome address, email address and/or telephone number. This database mayalso include user's personal preferences for using the network, forexample, if a user A uses media engine 106 for accessing media andindicates a preference for a particular media or indicates a preferenceto be alerted when a particular media item becomes available, suchpreferences would be stored together with the user Name in user database122. Alternatively, these preferences can be stored anywhere on network300 including user's 102 processor. Thus, if media server 118 was tomake those particular songs available to users of the network 300, itwould search through the preferences, for example, in user informationdatabase 122 to find which users that might want that song and, as inthe above example, user A's preferences would alert media server 118 tosend or otherwise make available that particular song to user A's mediaengine 106.

Moreover, in this embodiment, the overall network 300 is connected insuch a way that the media server 118, as well as the other servers, areable to interconnect with each other to optimize the experience for aparticular user 102. As will be discussed further below, while aparticular user may be locally associated with a particular processor103, when connected to network 300, that user will have the ability toaccess all of the resources available throughout network 300 whetherthose resources reside on a particular server or whether those resourcesreside on another processor. The network 300 is able to collect andretain user specific information to enhance the user's experiencethrough the resources available as part of the network. Thus, throughoutthe network, different users 102 will be accessing the same media server118 via their individual media engine 106, however, their individuallistening experience will be tailored to their particular needs and willutilize the capabilities of the entire network.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the system 100 is able tomanage user's 102 media files in such a manner that facilitates the easyplayback of different media files located in different locationsthroughout the network 300 as well as the creation of playlists or othercombinations of media that can easily be accessed by each individualuser 102 from any processor where the user 102 is located. In anotherembodiment of the present invention, two or more different users 102 areable to share and/or recommend media files amongst each other (ifproperly authorized) utilizing media engine 106. This is carried out bythe interaction of media engine 106 and media server 118 which bothshare and store data that pertains to both users 102 as well as themedia that is stored on media server 118 and the user's 102 respectiveprocessor 103. When the user 102 installs or utilizes media engine 106on processor 103, the media engine 106 goes through various differentsteps to both acquaint itself with user's 102 media as well as tointeract with media server 118. FIG. 4 depicts steps associated withthis process.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, user 102 installs or otherwise instantiatesmedia engine 106 on their processor 103. Step 402. Once the user hasinstalled the media engine 106 on their processor 103, the media enginesearches processor 103 for any media files that it is able to locate onprocessor 103. Step 404. If the media engine 106 is able to locate anymedia files on processor 103, the media engine 106 creates a file thatis stored within the media engine 106 that contains information on themedia files that have been found. Step 406. This file containsinformation about each media file including the location of the mediafile as well as metadata stored with the media file such as song name,artist name, or album name. If no such information is available with themedia file, media engine 106 merely stores a pointer and/or locationreference for the media file with an indicator indicating that there isno metadata available for this particular media file. In otherembodiments, the media engine 106 and/or the media server on the networkcan undertake steps to search the network for information about aparticular media file in order to obtain useful metadata for the user.

Media engine 106 also searches for any devices 114 (MP3 player, CDdrive, flash memory etc.) that may be located on or connected to user's102 processor 103 that may contain media. If such a peripheral device isfound, the media engine determines whether there is any media locatedwithin that peripheral device. Step 408. If there is, media engine 106stores information about that media including any associated metadata,in a file so as to enable the media engine 106 to access that data at alater point in time. Step 410. Once media engine 106 has acquired allinformation about the location of and the content of media files locatedon user's 102 processor 103 or its peripheral device(s) 114, the mediaengine 106 is able to communicate with media server 118 to pass alongthe information that media engine 106 has acquired about the media filesfrom processor 103. Media server 118 receives this information throughthe file or files created by media engine 106 containing the locationand metadata information about the media files located on processor 103and stores that information along with the other user information inuser information database 122. Step 412. The media server 118 thencompares the information received from the media engine 106 with themedia files and associated metadata located in media database 120. Step414. If the media files that are located on processor 103 match mediafiles that are located on media database 120, media server 118 notes thelocation of those media files within media database 120 and appends thatinformation to the file containing the information acquired by mediaengine 106 from processor 103. Step 416. Media server 118, then sends afile which contains an updated list of media files that combines boththe media files that are located on processor 103 as well as informationabout the media files that media server 118 wishes to make available touser 102 from media database 120. Step 418. Once the media engine 106acquires this file, it generates an interface which enables the user tomanage all of the media available to the user in an efficient andcoherent manner as will be discussed in reference to FIG. 2. Step 420.Thus, once the media engine 106 has acquired all of the informationrelating to the media files located both locally on processor 103 aswell as those files available to user 102 from the media server 118, themedia engine 106 allows the user the ability to both locate and accessthat media from one central location through the media engine 106. Inother words, when a user 102 uses the media engine 106, he or she isable, from one central location, to access or manipulate media andinformation that is available locally on processor 103, from mediaserver 118, or from elsewhere on the network.

Moreover, through the use of the media engine, the user is able tobookmark media that is located locally that the user 102 wants to makeavailable from different processors 103 located in different locations.In other words, if user 102 has both a processor 103 located at home aswell as a processor 103 located at work, the user can designate or thesystem can designate (in accordance with user preference criteria) someor all media files that are located at his or her home processor 103that he or she wishes to be able to experience at processor 103 locatedat work or elsewhere. This once again is managed via the media engine106 that both tracks, processes and shares information about the mediafile with the media server 118. Thus, if a user 102 wishes to experiencemedia files that are located on processor 103 at a different location,the user would seamlessly be able to access and experience those mediafiles from any processor that is running media engine 106 and has accessto media server 118. This is because media engine 106 has previouslystored all the metadata information as well as all the locationinformation about each and every media file on processor 103, andforwarded this information to media server 118. Thus, for example, if auser 102 wishes to experience a media file that is located on adifferent one of their processors, media engine 106 located on theprocessor where the user is located would request a media file frommedia server 118 which is able to look up and access all of the user'smedia files from information available to the media server 118. Oncemedia server 118 locates the particular media file being requested,media server 118 is able to retrieve that media file and stream it,forward it, or otherwise make it available to media engine 106 that isinstalled on processor where user 102 is currently located. Converselyif another user logs on using the same processor he or she will not beable to access the first user's bookmarked media files unless he or shebookmarks them independently of the first user. As can be seen, theinteraction between the media engine 106 and media server 118 creates arobust media collection and management tool for the collection andmanagement of media files that a specific user 102 is able to accessfrom various locations. Media engine 106 is also able to utilize thisfunctionality to exchange music between different users 102 as will bediscussed below. The user interface according to one embodiment of thepresent invention, which carries out the functionality discussed above,will now be discussed in reference to FIG. 2.

Individual users 102 can maintain different processors and/or devices onwhich they can obtain and/or listen to media files. For example, a usermay maintain a processor at his or her home, a processor at his or herplace of work, a portable device in his or her car and/or a media playerat another location each of which is capable of accessing the network300 and/or playing media files. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, when a user utilizes media engine 106 to access media files,the media engine is able to maintain information regarding the userand/or media files being played. This enables the user to enhance theirlistening experience by being able to transfer the listening experiencefrom one location to another. For example, if a user is listening to aparticular song on their home processor, and has to leave the home andgo to their car, the user can maintain the status of where they werelistening to the song from the media engine on their home processor andpick up from that point on their local media device in their car ormedia device in other location. Thus when the user leaves the processorat home, the media engine 106 saves information about what song the userwas listening to and passes that information along to media server 118.When the user reconnects to the network from the second location (e.g.their car) the media engine 106 located at the second location wherethey currently are will query the server for the location of the musicthat was being listened to and will then locate that music and stream itor otherwise make it available to the second location. If for somereason, the media engine at the second location is unable to access thesong from the same location because, for example, the second locationdoes not have a connection to the location where the media file islocated or the location where the media file is being streamed iscurrently offline, the media engine will attempt to locate that songfrom a different authorized location and stream it to the user at a newlocation. Thus it should be appreciated that this enhances a user'sexperience in that a user is able to enjoy an all encompassingexperience wherein the experience can be extended to various differentlocations at various different times on the various different devices.The user interface according to one embodiment of the present invention,which carries out the functionality discussed above, will now bediscussed in reference to FIG. 2.

It should be noted that different components of the functionalitydescribed above can take place within different components of network300 with information residing in different or the same components. Forexample, either the media engine 106 or the media server 118 canmaintain any or all of the data regarding the media files as well as anylocation information about the media files. If the data about the mediafiles is maintained completely on media engine 106, for example,different media engines 106 may communicate amongst themselves withoutany necessity to access the media server 118. Similarly, additionalservers can be utilized by the network 300 to distribute the informationmore widely.

As can be seen in FIG. 2 and described further below, when a user 102utilizes media engine 106, all of the media files available to the userare organized in a logical fashion for display to the user in userinterface 200. User interface 200 is preferably presented with aplurality of panes within which media information is displayed.Referring now to pane 201, a list of the various media resources orsources where a user's media is located is displayed. As was discussedabove, media engine 106 acquires and stores information concerning theuser's media located on processor 103 and available via media server118. With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, for example, in this embodiment, auser is able to view all of the media files arranged by particularsource or location, or a complete list of all of the available mediafiles. For example, by clicking on the “my music” tab 222 a user canview all of the music available to that user stored locally or in themedia database 120 or from other sites or servers 380. Preferably, oncea user has chosen to access the “my music” tab 222, a list of all of themedia that is available to the user either via the user media files 110,local device 114, through the media database 120, or other sites orservers 380 is listed in the right-most pane 231. The list is sortedinto columns representing information about each respective media fileincluding, for example, Song Title 202, Artist 204, Album 206, Duration210 and Genre 212 and can be arranged in any other order that the userwishes, (e.g., alphabetically by Artist). The media engine 106 is ableto locate this information from the metadata relating to each particularitem of media that it has previously acquired and stored as wasdiscussed above. Pane 231 provides the user the ability to view allavailable media in one location and sort that media in a user-friendlyformat by sorting by column in a manner known in the art.

Via pane 201, the user is also able to separately view the media storedin media database 120 by clicking the network media site tab 224. Thisinformation once again is available to media engine 106 based on theinformation received from media server 118 as was discussed above withreference to FIG. 4. If the user clicks on tab 224 a display will appearin pane 231 that will display the media available from media database120 as will be discussed below in reference to FIG. 33. In order tocompile this list, the media engine 106 queries media server 118 for allthe available user-related media information and for media files locatedin media database 120 and populates pane 231 with the appropriatemetadata in the same manner as was discussed above. Search functionalityis also preferably provided to permit a user to search media database120 for desired items of media, for example, by searching for artists,song titles, genres or other media criteria.

In one embodiment, media database may contain media files available forlease or purchase, in which case the media server 118 would include acommerce component that gives the user an option to search for andpurchase, lease, rent or otherwise obtain authorized versions of medialocated through media database 120. For example, if the site or server380 accessed through tab 224 is a music seller, user can click tab 224to be taken to a commerce site to purchase music or media to be added touser's collection, which could then be managed by the media engine.Additionally, user preference information gained through the user'sinteraction with the media engine may be made available to the commercesite to present recommended purchases.

It should be appreciated that although various embodiments are discussedin terms of a “my music” collection or “my music” tab, the title of thistab or collection can be anything and the “my music” nomenclature isused herein for ease of explanation.

In this exemplary embodiment, the user is also able to access anInternet Radio provider site 380 that may be available via a button orlinks displayed in pane 201. For example, if a user clicks upon InternetRadio Tab 226, an Internet Radio available from media server 118 orother site 380 will open allowing the user to experience various radiostations via the media engine 106. Similar to the commerce feature, userpreference information gained through the user's interaction with themedia engine may be made available to the radio station to influencemusic selections presented by the radio station. One such radio stationis Launchcast, available from Yahoo! Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.

Alternatively, in a similar manner, the user may also be able to view acomprehensive list of the songs available on a local device 114 whichcan be accessed for example via compact disc tab 228 or MP3 player tab230. This information is once again utilized by media engine 106 fromthe information earlier acquired by the media engine at the time ofinitiation, installation, or thereafter as discussed above in referenceto FIG. 4. Moreover, the user is also able to list songs in a particularplaylist list 232, which will be discussed in more detail below. Theupdating of information available through media engine 106 can occur ata user selected time, or automatically upon certain events occurring,e.g., a CD is placed in a drive or MP3 device plugged into processor103, can be initiated at program start or install, or can be programmedto occur at intervals, or under instruction from media server 118, othernetwork site 380, or other program or processor 103 or on network 300.

An embodiment also preferably allows the user the added ability to use arating tool shown in column 208 to rate a particular song from withinpane 231. For example, a user may rate a particular song that he or shereally likes with four stars while giving zero stars to a song that theuser does not particularly care for. Once rated, the user would be ableto view his or her list of songs ordered by a particular rating. Thus asong a user particularly enjoys may be listed at the top of the listwhile a song that the user does not particularly care of may be movedfurther down.

In another embodiment, the ratings applied by a user are associated witha user identification. The user id and associated rating is stored inthe user information database located on the media server. Thus, theuser is able to view and access this rating from multiple processors andlocations.

In further embodiments, other items may be associated with a user'sidentification and similarly stored in the user information database orother database residing on the media server wherein the item isaccessible by the user at any location where they have a media engineand can connect to the system.

The user information database 122 is preferably made available to anyapplication with proper access to the system, to leverage the userinformation and to enhance the user's experience with all aspects of thesystem 100/300.

By organizing and storing user information and making it available tomultiple applications on system 100/300, a user need only rate a song orartist or album once, and that rating will be made available to anyapplication or feature or function of system 100/300 that can utilizeuser rating data. Thus, for example, if a user “rips” a song from a CDusing client side music engine 106, and rates it using the userinterface, e.g., pane 231, that rating will be passed to user database122 on media server 118. When the user subsequently selects their radiostation to listen to from pane 201, the radio station application (notshown) would access user database 122 and obtain that song rating andincorporate it into any programming algorithms used to program radiocontent for that user. The same process would apply in reverse if theuser rated the song while listening to the radio. Thus, a user'spreferences can be stored by and/or incorporated into various featuresand functions and applications available on system 100/300 without theneed for the user to rate the song more than once.

Additionally, the user information may be centrally maintained ordistributed, such as by maintaining all or a portion of the userinformation on user information database 8410 (FIG. 84) on processor103, in addition to or as an alternative to user database 122.

As will be discussed further herein, the ratings chosen by a user willallow the system to better classify music in terms of a user'sparticular likes or dislikes and greatly enhance a user's experience. Aswill also be discussed later, a user may also view or listen to otherusers' music by clicking on tab 234, or another user may adopt a user'sratings or preferences.

Once the user chooses a particular item of media to experience, e.g., asong, a window containing a media player 240 opens within user interface200 (or it may be always present), to grant the user control of playingthe media. The title for the particular song being played 242, as wellas the artist 244, the album 246, are preferably displayed. From withinthis media player 240, the user has the ability to control the media byrewinding, fast forwarding or pausing a particular song by usingcontrols 250 that are common to known media players. Moreover, as thesong is playing, the user has the ability to rate the song, artistand/or album by clicking on the rating tool sequence 252 and that ratingwill preferably be incorporated as part of the user's preferences in theuser information database 122 as was discussed above.

A user 102 may also incorporate a plug-in program into the media engine106. Access to this plug-in program may be available via a newly createdtab 236 from Pane 201. These plug-ins may be programmed using knownprogramming techniques for the purpose of making the media engine morerobust in the actions that can be performed from within the mediaengine. Plug-ins may be provided by the provider of the media engine ora third party. In other words, the user interface and functionalityaccording to one embodiment of the present invention can be based ondifferent plug-ins, designed in various locations, designed by differentpeople including users or operators of the Network 300 to enhance theuser interface, the functionality it provides and the interaction withthe media engine.

When the user has a compact disc or any other form of removable medialocated in device 114, the system has the ability, as can be seen inFIG. 5, to identify and list the songs located on the removable mediaby, for example, clicking on tab 228 and the user can choose to importthose songs into their “my music” collection. For example, by clickingon the compact disc tab 228, user 102 may be given a list of all songsand/or other media available on the removable media in pane 500. Thislist may contain the title of the track, the duration of the song, theartist, as well as the genre. From this list, the user may be able toeither play the CD by clicking on the play CD icon 502, eject the CDfrom the CD player by clicking on the eject CD icon 504 or of adding anyor all of the songs from the CD into his or her “my music” collection byclicking box 510 next to the particular song that the user wishes toinclude in the “my music” collection and then clicking on the add to “mymusic” icon 506. Alternatively, the media engine 106 may prompt the userwhen the CD is inserted into the CD drive, whether the user wishes toimport the songs into their “my music” collection. As can be seen inFIG. 5, once the system recognizes a CD or other removable media that islocated in device 114, the title of the removable media will populatecompact disk tab 228 in pane 201. Additionally, the name of the albumand in one embodiment the cover of the album will be shown in pane 520.In general, in order to obtain this information about the CD, the mediaengine is able to identify any digitized content that resides on acompact disc or MP3, determine what the digitized content is, andconfirm the identify of the CD, i.e., the actual title, artist, content,etc. In one embodiment, a verification database is created from a set ofmaster CDs. It should be noted that although this example is discussedin terms of CDs, a similar method would apply to different mediums aswell. The verification database contains records of CDs and acorresponding table-of-contents as well as corresponding selected audiodata from the CD. Once the verification database is created,verification of a CD to the master CD may be performed. First the CD isidentified by matching the table-of-contents from the CD against theverification database. Using the table-of-contents data, the mediaengine identifies one or more master CDs with a similartable-of-contents. The identified CD is then authenticated by matchingselected audio data from the CD against the verification databasecreated from a set of master CDs. In other embodiments, the identity ofthe CD or other media is captured through known techniques includinglooking at the waveform of the specific media content, as well asassociated metadata or bit size to help identify the content. Onceidentified, the identity is passed along to media server 118 along withthe location where the media could be found.

In another embodiment the user will be given the ability to create aplaylist with the album or add the album to an existing playlist. Inthis embodiment, the media engine 106 will also access information itmight have about the album to offer the user similar albums in pane 530.Once the user has chosen to import the particular songs to his or her“my music” collection, the song(s) from the compact disc or otherremovable media will be copied or “ripped” by the media engine 106 tolocal storage or processor 103 or portable device 114, in a userselected format, or format automatically chosen, or the media file maybe made available to media server 118 so that the files and/or metadatainformation about the media may be stored with the files relating to theuser's other media. Thus these song(s) along with any other media thatis in the user's “my music” collection can be accessed from any locationthat the user can access the media server 118 with a media engine 106.Once media server 118 has a list of all the user's “my music” collectionas well as some or all of the metadata connected with the media and thelocation of that media, media server 118 is able to locate and provideaccess to those media files wherever they may reside on the network tothat user at any location where the user is located. Thus, a user caneasily add any media file to their “my music” collection and, assumingthat proper authorization, adherence to DRM practices and otherownership or custodial issues are considered, make the media fileaccessible at any other location that has a media engine 106.

An alternative way, according to another embodiment, to import musicfrom removable media device such as a compact disc into the user's “mymusic” collection is to click upon the displayed song title of theactual song that the user wishes to include in their “my music”collection from pane 500.

Thus, with described embodiments, a user need not continuously transporthis or her media files and/or removable media to different locationssince that media will be available via media engine 106, media server118, network 300, and components and functions described herein.Additionally a user need not re-familiarize themselves with the mediathey liked that was available from media database 120 and to selectmedia that they have previously listened to and wish to listen to again.Rather all of the media the user has chosen will reside on or beavailable via their media engine 106 and be available to a particularuser as part of his or her media collection any time or anywhere thatthe user wishes.

In practice according to one embodiment of the present invention, avirtual collection of media is created for each user 102. As can be seenwith reference to FIG. 6, and as was discussed above with reference toFIG. 4 above, the media engine 106 searches each user's processor 103and/or device 114 and identifies media files. After all the media isidentified, a user can choose which media he or she wishes to add totheir “my music” collection. Step 610. When a user wishes to add aparticular media file to their “my music” collection a virtualcollection is created of one or more media files by which eachparticular piece of media is “bookmarked” for future use by the user.Step 620. In one embodiment, the book marking of particular media fileis accomplished by storing an identifier for each user's bookmarkedmedia in user information database 122. Step 630. In addition to theother information about a user stored in information database 122, themedia server 118 also stores information about a particular user'sbookmark for later retrieval. Thus, when a user identifies a particularpiece of media to be bookmarked for later use, an identifier for thatparticular piece of media is stored together with the user's 102 otheridentifying information stored in user information database 122, and avirtual collection of all the media in a user's “my music” collection iscreated. Thus, user information database 122 will contain for each usera listing of identifiers that refer to particular media that has beenflagged by a particular user. So for example even though two users mayaccess the system utilizing the same processor, each user will be ableto obtain easy access to his or her “bookmarked” media, to the exceptionof the other user who will have access to their own “bookmarked” media.

When a user wishes to retrieve a particular piece of media that has beenbookmarked, the media server would access the media identifier from userinformation database 122 and then use that identifier to stream orotherwise make available the particular media file to the user. Step640. Thus, it should be appreciated that a user can easily identifyparticular media that he or she wishes to make available at variouslocations and the media server can easily retrieve that media based onthe information stored about the particular user in user informationdatabase 122. There is, therefore, no need for the media server to beginsearching for the particular media file but rather once the identifierfor the media file is stored and attached to a particular user'sinformation, media server 118 can easily make available the bookmarkedmedia as if it was locally stored. Information database 122 may alsocontain several alternate locations on the network where a media filemay be located, thus providing alternate sources if one particularsource is unavailable for some reason.

As can be seen in FIG. 7, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention, when a request is made to media engine 106 to play back acertain piece of media, the media engine 106 goes through a process toassure that the media is being played back and/or streamed to the userin the most efficient way possible. When a request for a particularmedia to be played back is made, the media engine 106 first searches tosee if that particular media file is located locally on the user'sprocessor 103. Step 701. If located locally the media engine will playthat file from the local location. Step 702. If the media file is notlocated locally, the media engine will then search user's 102 processor103's cache to see if the media file is located there. Step 703. If themedia file is located in the processor's cache, then the media enginewill play the media file from the cache location. Step 704. If howeverthe media file is not located within the cache, media engine 106 willthen query media server 118 to see if media server 118 is capable ofretrieving the file from an alternate authorized source on the network.One example of a primary or alternate source of a file is for the mediaserver 118 or other server 130 to provide a tethered download for theuser. Step 705. A tethered download is a portable file that contains atime-based DRM that expires after a certain amount of time. In otherwords, for example, if a user is part of a subscription service and hasthe rights to obtain the rights to a certain media file for a certainlength of time, a tethered download of that media file is loaded ontothe user's processor and the user will be able to play that file for acertain length of time (e.g., 30 days). At the end of the predeterminedlength of time, the file becomes unusable and can no longer be played bythe user. Media server 118 can therefore search throughout the network300 to see if the tethered download is available for the particularmedia file that is requested. A tethered download would be the nextpreferable option for media engine 106 since a tethered downloaddownloads a local copy to the user's processor and allows the user toplay the media file without needing to access media server 118.

If media server 118 is able to locate a tethered download for theparticular media file, media server 118 retrieves the tethered downloadand downloads it to the user's processor 103 cache or local storage.Once the tethered download is acquired, media engine 106 plays the mediafile for the user. Step 706. If no tethered download is available, mediaengine 106 queries media server 118 to see if the particular media fileis available to the particular user from the media database 120. Step707. Preferably, access to media in the media database 120 can be basedon a tiered membership or based on different subscription fees.Therefore, media available in the media database may not be available toeach particular user based on the subscription that the user had withinthe network 300. If the media file is available within media database120 and the particular user requesting the file has a subscription orauthorization level that permits access to the media file, the file isstreamed by media server 118 from media database 120 to the user'sprocessor 103 and is played with the media engine 106. Step 708. Ifhowever the media file requested is not available to the particularuser, the media server could optionally stream to the user's processor103 a sample of the media file. Step 709. In one embodiment a messagemay be displayed to the user indicating that this media file isunavailable because of the user's subscription or membership andinformation can be given to the user with instructions explaining how toenhance their subscription or membership.

Additional features of the user interface 200 will now be discussed withreference to FIG. 8. From within the user interface 200, a user has theability to browse and view different albums that have songs from theuser's “my music” collection. As can be seen in FIG. 8, in order to viewa song by album, a user may choose browse by album from drop-down menu802. After choosing browse by album, the user is given a collection ofalbums 801 that are available for the user to listen to. In addition tothe names of the listed albums, the album covers for each individualalbum are displayed for the user to view. The album covers arepreferably stored as a .gif image together with the media and metadatastored on media engine 106 and/or media server 118, although thestructure and organization of the storage and retrieval of media andassociated metadata can be implemented in multiple ways, in distributedor centralized fashion across one or many servers or locations. If analbum cover is not stored with a particular media file, the system canbe configured to search the network to try and find the cover image.Although discussed in terms of a .gif image any file format thatdisplays images such as .jpg, .tif or any other image file formatheretofore and hereinafter known can be used to display the album cover.

In one embodiment of the present invention, one or more images arestored in an image database 370. These images can be stored in any imageformat heretofore and hereinafter known. These images can for example beimages of album covers, artists, or other images related to a piece ofmedia. Along with the media stored in media database 120, a URL or otherpointer is stored that links or points to an image in the image database370. Therefore in this embodiment, when a user chooses a particularpiece of media, the media engine 106 is able to retrieve any associatedimages (e.g., album cover, artist picture) and display those images forthe user.

It should also be appreciated that the display of the album covers forthe user offers an enhanced experience wherein the user is both able tolisten to the music as well as view the album cover as if the useractually was holding the compact disc or other media in their hands.Once the user chooses an album from the interface 801, all of the songson that album may be displayed as can be seen in FIG. 9 with all of thedetails relating to that song in pane 812. As with previous embodiments,in this embodiment the user has the ability to play the song in mediaplayer 240 by clicking on a song name in pane 812. In this embodiment,the user has the added ability to browse through music in a moreefficient way (e.g., via album), which leads to an enhanced experiencefor the user.

In another embodiment the user is able to browse through the songs inhis or her “my music” collection by genre. For example, as can be seenin FIG. 10, the user has the ability to explore different genres (e.g.,blues, folk, jazz, rock) via interface 1000 by, for example, choosing“browse by genre” from drop-down menu 802. This is once again madepossible by the metadata information acquired and stored by media engine106. Genre information may be obtained and utilized by the systemthrough human operators adding genre information, or the genreinformation may be supplied as metadata by the original source of themedia file, e.g., a record label. Similar to the way a user browsestheir “my music” collection via album covers, the user is able to choosea particular genre and display all of the songs available in his or her“my music” collection that fits that particular genre. Once again asseen in FIG. 11, if a user picks for example the “Rock/Pop genre” frompane 1002, all those songs that meet the “Rock/Pop” genre criteria thatare located in the user's “my music” collection will be displayed inpane 812.

To further enhance a user's experience, a user may pick a particularartist in the selected genre from pane 1004 to view songs from theparticular artist. For example, as can be seen in FIG. 12, if a userclicks on “Peter Gabriel” from the artist pane 1004, only songs by“Peter Gabriel” will be displaced in pane 812. A user may then furthernarrow the songs by clicking on a particular album from album list pane1006. For instance, as is shown in FIG. 13, if a user clicks on thealbum “Security” by Peter Gabriel, only songs on that album will bedisplayed in pane 812. If the user then clicks on a particular song suchas “Shock the Monkey”, the chosen song is then played in media player240. It should be noted that the above-discussed browsing by aparticular criteria is discussed in terms of browsing for music in theuser's “my music” collection. In one embodiment, this browsing can beperformed on all media located anywhere throughout the network 300.Additionally, in another embodiment a user can also search throughanother user's “my music” collection as will be discussed later inreference to FIG. 50.

In another embodiment, the user may browse the media available in his orher “my music” collection by searching for a song and/or album via thesong and/or album's artist as is shown in FIG. 15. In this embodiment, auser can access interface 1500 to explore all the artists of the mediathat are in the user's “my music” collection by choosing to “browse byArtist” from drop-down menu 802. Once again, similar to previousembodiments, a user may pick a particular artist from the list ofartists in pane 1502 to view songs from that particular artist. Forexample, as can be seen in FIG. 16, if a user clicks on “The Clash” fromthe artist pane 1502, only songs from “The Clash” will be displayed inpane 1504, and only albums from “The Clash” will be displayed in pane1506. The user then can further narrow the songs by selecting aparticular album from album list pane 1506. For example, if a userchooses the album “Give 'em Enough Rope” from the album list pane 1506,only songs from the album “Give 'em Enough Rope” will be displayed inpane 1504 as can be seen in FIG. 17. As in previous embodiments and ascan also be seen in FIG. 17, if the user wishes to listen to any of thesongs in pane 1504, the user need only highlight that song in pane 1504and the song will be played for the user by interface 240. In oneembodiment, an icon 1702 may appear next to the song being played toindicate that it is being played.

As was discussed earlier in reference to FIG. 2, through media engine106, a user has the ability to rate a particular song, artist and/oralbum depending on whether or not the user likes or dislikes thatparticular song artist or album. This ability to rate the song ispreferably available to the user for any stage of the “my music”interface discussed heretofore or hereafter. Additionally, user 102 maychoose a new song that is available from media database 120 and applyratings to that song by indicating their likes or dislikes for aparticular song, artist and/or album. In an embodiment of the presentinvention the system may automatically assign a predetermined rating tosongs that are located on a user's processor 103 or on a peripheraldevice 114. It should be understood that rating songs, albums andartists allow the media engine the ability to organize and group songsby a particular like and/or dislike. The more songs that have beenrated, the more the system will be able to choose which particular song,album and/or artist the particular user enjoys. For example, whencreating playlists or streaming music via an internet radio station, themedia engine, using the information obtained through user ratings, canfilter or play songs in accordance with what a particular user is morelikely to enjoy. Preference information from the radio station can beutilized by the media engine alone or acting together with the mediaserver or other servers to personalize commerce offerings, influenceplaylist creation or system recommendations. In like manner, the mediaengine and/or servers can utilize and pass to other servers/applicationsuser preference information to enhance the user experience in allrespects, regardless of which particular component or functionality isbeing utilized by the user.

In one embodiment, the system may automatically rate songs that arelocated locally with a predetermined rating initially when the detailsof the particular songs are acquired and stored by media engine 106. Forexample, if a piece of media is located on a user's processor 103, thesystem may automatically rate that song with, for example, a rating of 3on a scale of 1 to 4. It should be understood that this will give themedia that is located locally on a user's processor an automatic highrating even before the user themselves rates the song album and/orartist manually. This is because it is fairly safe to assume that, inmost situations, if a particular piece of media is located locally on auser's processor, the user tends to like that particular media.Automated rating can also be based on other factors such as the user'sfrequency of play, rating of the genre or artist, how often the media isskipped or repeated, or other factors. The user will preferably have theability to re-rate the media at other times, to give the media a higheror lower rating if they wish to better reflect their preferences.Additionally, in one embodiment if a user has already rated a particularsong artist and/or album manually, that rating will not be overwrittenby any automatic rating. Moreover, each user preferably also has theability to decide not to incorporate any automatic ratings and ratheronly utilize their manual ratings. Thus, as can be seen from thepreviously discussed embodiments, the media engine enables the loadingof user's media as well as classifying that media with a morepersonalized classification every time the user accesses the mediaengine. Also, the user is able to combine both his or her manual ratingsand indications of likes or dislikes in media available through themedia server with the local media located on the user's processorwithout having to manually key in the ratings for that local media,subject to later fine tuning by the user.

In one exemplary embodiment of an automatic rating scheme, the followingfactors are used to create an automated rating for a user when a useradds music to his or her “my music” collection. When a user adds musicto their “my music” collection from for example the media database 120,a peripheral device 114, a hard drive located on Processor 103, and/oranother user's “my music” collection, the album and/or artist associatedwith that song or group of songs is given a set rating based on thenumber of songs from that album or artist that are already in the user's“my music” collection. For instance, any album that has three or moretracks in the user's “my music” collection will be given a rating of 70on a scale from 1-100. Similarly, any artist with greater than 10 andless than 20 songs in the user's “my music” collection will be given arating of 70 on a scale from 1-100. Lastly, any artist with greater than20 songs in the user's “my music” collection will be will be given arating of 80 on a scale from 1-100. This rating scheme assures thatartists and/or albums that are most popular in the use's “my music”collection will be rated higher than those that are less popular. Itshould be noted that in different embodiments, different automaticrating scales can be applied to songs albums and/or artists when theyare stored in a user's “my music” collection. Additionally automaticratings may be stored separately or flagged differently in the ratingsdatabase 320 so as to distinguish between the automatically and manuallycreated ratings.

Another feature according to one embodiment of the present inventionwill now be discussed with reference to FIG. 18. With reference to FIG.18, user 102 has the ability to perform a search function withininterface 200 of all media that is available either through the user's“my music” collection or that is available on media server 118 via themedia database 120 or elsewhere on network 300 or the Internet at large.As can be seen from FIG. 18, user interface 200 contains a field 1801wherein a search term may be entered. For example, in FIG. 18, a displayis shown where a user has selected to search for the term “ou”throughout all of the identifying characteristics of the media availablein the user's “my music” collection, or anywhere on the network,including song name, artist, album, and genre, by choosing “All” fromdrop-down menu 1802 and inserting the phrase “ou” in field 1801. Oncethe user has entered the search term (e.g., ou), a list of artists forthose songs that match the criteria is shown in pane 1803 and all of thesongs that match the terms are displayed in pane 1805. Thus, any song inthe user's “my music” collection that has the term “ou” in either itssong name, artist, album or genre will all be displayed in pane 1805.While the following examples describe focused searches on specificcriteria or media sources or media categories, the searches conductedmay be performed on multiple sources at once, based on one search term,so that results are returned from multiple sources, and preferablyidentified as such in the search result. Thus, one search term wouldyield results from local sources such as attached devices and/or localprocessor, as well as server 118, media database 120, other servers 130,other users 102, or any other source on network 300. The search may belimited to only some of these sources to limit the size of the result,or a matter of user choice or system design.

A user can further narrow the search results by clicking on an artist inpane 1803. For example, if a user clicks on the artist “The Clash” frompane 1803 as can be seen in FIG. 19 pane 1805 will only show those songsthat both match the criteria (i.e., contain the ou string) and are fromthe artist “The Clash.” The user can further search results from aparticular album by choosing that album from pane 1804 as can be seen inFIG. 20. As can be seen in FIG. 20, the user chose a particular album inpane 1804 (“Give 'em Enough Rope”) and only songs for that particularalbum are displayed in pane 1805.

In another embodiment, a user may search for songs within their “mymusic” collection (or elsewhere on the network) by a variable that isonly in the album name of a song by selecting album from drop-down menu1802 and inserting the search criteria in field 1801. As can be seen inFIG. 21, if a user chooses to search album names from drop-down menu1802 and populates, for example, field 1801 with the search string “p”,the media engine 106 will return a list of artists in pane 1803, albumsin pane 1804 and songs in pane 1805 that match that particular criteria.The user can then choose a song directly from pane 1805, or choose anartist from pane 1803 or an album from pane 1804 to further narrow thesearch to include only songs from that artist or album. As can be seen,for example, in FIG. 22, if a user chooses to view only the “AmericanIdol Finalists” songs that have the search term “p” in them, the userwould select the “American Idol Finalists” from pane 1803 that wouldbring up all of the “American Idol Finalists” albums in pane 1804 andall of the “American Idol Finalists” songs in pane 1805. As can be seenfurther in FIG. 23, if the user selects one of those albums in pane1804, pane 1805 will only display songs from that particular album.

Additional similar embodiments that can search a user's “my music”collection (or elsewhere on the network) by artist, songs, and/or genrewill now be discussed with reference to FIGS. 24-30. As can be seen inFIG. 24, a user can elect to search artist's names from their “my music”collection by choosing Artist from the drop-down menu 1802 and includinga search term such as, for example, “er” in field 1801. This will onceagain result in those songs whose artist name has the term “er” withintheir name to be displayed in pane 1805. As can be see in FIG. 25, onceagain, a user can further narrow the search by choosing a particularartist from pane 1803, in which case only those songs belonging to thatparticular artist will be displayed in pane 1805. The user can onceagain further narrow down the search by choosing an album from pane 1804in which situation only songs matching that album and the searchcriteria will be displayed in pane 1805, as can be seen in FIG. 26.

In another embodiment, a user can search for a particular term in a songname as can be seen in FIG. 27. Similar to above embodiments, a user canselect songs from drop-down menu 1802 and enter a particular searchcriteria in field 1801. As can be seen in FIG. 27, if the user choosessongs from the drop-down menu 1802 and the string “ou” from field 1801,songs will be displayed in pane 1805 that have the string “ou” in theirsong name and a list of artists and albums for those songs will bedisplayed in pane 1803 and 1804, respectively. This search can onceagain be narrowed as can be seen in FIG. 28, if the user chooses aparticular artist from the artist pane 1803. As is shown in FIG. 28,only songs matching the selected artist (Peter Gabriel) are shown inpane 1805 and only albums matching that artist are shown in pane 1804.The search can be further narrowed if the user chooses an album frompane 1804, as can be seen in FIG. 29, pane 1805 then only displays thosesongs that match the criteria and are from the particular album chosenby the user.

In another embodiment, as can be seen in FIG. 30, a user can perform asearch of his or her “my music” collection (or elsewhere on the network)by genre, by choosing the term genre from the drop-down menu 1802 andentering a search term into field 1801. As can be seen in FIG. 30, if auser chooses the genre search from the drop-down menu 1802 and enters asearch term, for example, “pop” into field 1801, pane 1805 will displayall the songs that match that criteria and pane 1803 will display theartists that match those songs. In this particular embodiment, pane 1804is not populated with album names until an artist is selected, as willbe discussed with reference to FIG. 31. It should be appreciated that indifferent embodiments, panes 1803, 1804 and 1805 may be populated assoon as the initial search is performed or may remain unpopulated untilan additional criterion is selected. Similar to previous embodiments, ifa user wishes to narrow the search further, he or she can choose aparticular artist from pane 1803 as can be seen in FIG. 31. If a userdoes choose a particular artist, for example, “The Clash” from pane1803, the albums that match that particular artist and the criteria willbe displayed in pane 1804 and songs belonging to that particular artistwill be displayed in pane 1805 as is shown in FIG. 31. Once again, theuser can further narrow the search by choosing a particular album frompane 1804, as is shown in FIG. 32. If the user does choose thatparticular album, then only songs that are in that particular album fromthat particular artist matching the genre criteria chosen from field1801 will be displayed in pane 1805.

In one embodiment, the search field 1801 would populate automaticallybased on prior searches performed by the user, by for example filling inthe word “Jones”, once the user types “JO”. Once again, as in previousembodiments the user has the ability to play any of the songs that arereturned by the search by clicking on the particular song in the list inpane 1805. Additionally, if the album is already located in a user's “mymusic” collection, the add button 526 may not appear and rather an emptybox 527 or icon which might for example say “already in my music” mayappear instead. These searches may be carried out either in the user's“my music” collection, in the full collection available from the mediadatabase 120 or anywhere throughout the network 300.

As was discussed above, in one embodiment of the present invention, auser can access media files located in media database 120 via mediaserver 118. Media engine 106 can generate for the user a listing of themusic located on media database 120 in a similar way to the way themusic located in a particular user's “my music” collection is displayed.As can be seen in FIG. 33, when a user selects the network media sitetab 224, from pane 201, an interface 3300 is generated for the user thatlists songs that are located on media database 120 that the operators ofthe media site wish to either recommend to the user or inform the userabout. This recommendation is preferably, but not necessarily, basedupon preference information stored in user information database 122 oron the user's processor or elsewhere on the network, as preferenceinformation, for the purposes of personalizing a user's experience, maybe stored at, and accessed from the location or locations on the networkwhere such information may be stored. For example, as can be seen inpane 3305, the media engine generates a listing of recommended songsthat are located on media database 120 but are not in the user's “mymusic” collection. Additionally, as can be seen in listing 3310, themedia engine can also generate a listing of albums that were recentlyreleased that the user might find interest in. Additionally, in oneembodiment, the media engine can also generate a list of particularalbums or songs that were just added to the database as is shown inlisting 3315. It should be noted, that in different embodiments themedia engine 106 can generate different listings and groupings of songsand/or albums located on media database 120. For example, as can be seenin FIG. 34, the media engine 106 can generate a most popular artistssection 3410, which includes a listing of the most popular artists fromwithin the database 120 as well as a .gif image 3420 of those particularartists. Once again, these .gif images can be stored together with themedia and metadata stored on media engine 106 and/or media server 118.Although discussed in terms of a .gif image, any file format thatdisplays images such as .jpg, .tif, or any other image file formatheretofore and hereafter known to display the picture of the artist.

In an additional embodiment, a user may search through songs located onmedia database 120 or elsewhere on the network for a particular termlocated in either the song name, artist name, or album name. Forexample, as can be seen in FIG. 35, user 102 has the ability to performa search function within interface 3300 of all media that is availableeither on media database 120 and/or located in the user's “my music”collection or elsewhere. As can be seen from FIG. 35, user interface3300 contains a field 3504 wherein a criterion may be selected to searcha particular search variable which can be entered into field 3502. Forexample, in FIG. 35, a display is shown where a user has selected tosearch for the term “combine” in all song names of songs located on themedia database 120. This is because the user has selected “song” fromdrop-down menu 3504, and entered the word “combine” in field 3502 aswell as chosen to search the media database from drop-down menu 3506.Once the user has entered the search terms and the search has beenperformed, a list of those songs that match the criteria will bedisplayed in pane 3508. These listings may include song titles 3510,artist name 3512, and album names 3514. In one embodiment, the listingwill also include a “my music” column 3516, which can include a button3518 next to a particular song that the user can click upon to add tohis or her “my music” collection. For example, as can be seen in FIG.36, if a user wishes to add the song “Combine” by “Pino Colony,” he orshe would click on button 3518 and the song will automatically be addedto the user's “my music” collection. Access to songs in media database120 can be based on a tiered membership, or based on differingsubscription fees. Therefore, certain users may be allowed to addcertain songs to their “my music” collection while other users may not.Therefore, “my music” column 3516 displays to the user which songs canbe added to the particular user's “my music” collection. Alternatively,the “my music” column 3516 may also include a button 3520, which canindicate that the particular song is already located in a particularuser's “my music” collection. Thus, from this display, a user canreadily ascertain which songs he or she may wish to add to their “mymusic” collection and/or which songs he or she may already have in their“my music” collection.

In one embodiment, in addition to a user's ability to click on button3518 to automatically add the particular song to the user's “my music”collection, the user also has the ability to purchase a particular songfor a pre-determined price via button 3524 in column 3522. For example,if the user enjoys a particular song that is returned by the search, andwishes to purchase that song, the user would click on button 3524. Inone embodiment, the user would be directed to a payment page (not shown)where, for example the user can enter credit card information. From thispage for example a user can complete an e-commerce transaction in aknown manner to purchase a download and/or streaming rights, or otheraccess rights in the song and/or album including a tangible copy. Itshould be appreciated that this combines the use of the media engine andthe experiencing of media files with the ability to conduct commerce andpurchase copies of and/or rights to the media that a user is listeningto. This pricing information can be stored along with each media filemetadata to make it easily accessible to the media engine 106. In otherwords, when displaying a song for a user, the media engine 106 knowswhether the user already has the media file on their computer and themedia engine 106 also knows from the media server 118, using commercefunctions 330 located on network 300 what the proper pricing for thatsong is and which vendors may be selling that song. Thus, the user,through a user-friendly interface and by the click of a mouse, is ableto purchase a particular song or album right from within the mediaengine 106, obviating the necessity of “shopping around” for aparticular song or album. In another embodiment, as can be seen in FIG.36, in addition to both options listed in interface 3508, the user mayalso right click on a particular song name to produce a drop-down menu3610 that would display a list of options available to the user inrelation to that particular song. For example, as can be seen in FIG.36, the user has the option to play the song in which case the song willbe played in music player 240, add the particular song to his or her “mymusic” collection, add the song to the music currently playing, add thesong to a playlist, create a similar song playlist as will be discussedbelow in relation to FIGS. 46-47, or to buy the song and/or album, inwhich case the user may be directed to a payment page where, forexample, the user can enter credit card information. Alternatively, frommenu 3610, the user may go to a song page, album page, or artist page,which can be web pages with information about that particular song,album or artist. In addition, other choices available to the user mayinclude sending the song to a friend either by a messaging program,email or other communication software or to search network 300 for thewords or lyrics to that particular song. In one embodiment, interface3300, may also include pane 3620 which includes a listing of otheroptions that the user may wish to employ to perform similar searches tothose that he or she has already performed. For example, as can be seenin FIG. 36, pane 3620 allows the user by a click of the mouse to easilysearch other artists' albums, users and/or the web for a particularsearch term that has already been entered in field 5001. Alternatively,a choice can be given to view similar artists or songs or albums basedupon similarity data stored at media server 118 or elsewhere on thenetwork.

In another embodiment, the user may search for songs within the mediadatabase 120 by a variable that is only in the song's artist name byselecting artist from the drop-down menu 3504 and entering the searchterm into field 3502. As can be seen in FIG. 37, if the user chooses tosearch artists names from drop-down menu 3504 and populates, forexample, field 3502 with the search term “jam,” the media engine 106will return a list of artists in pane 3710 that match that particularcriteria Once again, the user may choose to perform the search either inmedia database 120, in the user's “my music” collection, or both, orelsewhere, by selecting the particular location or locations fromdrop-down menu 3506. Additionally, the image of the particular artistmay also be displayed next to the artist's name in pane 3710, as wasdiscussed above with reference to album covers and artist images. If auser wishes to obtain additional information about a particular artistlisted in pane 3710, the user can click on that particular artist's nameand/or image and he or she will be directed to a display that listsinformation about that particular artist, as can be seen in FIG. 38. Asis shown in FIG. 38, an interface 3810 about a particular artist caninclude a biography about the artist, photos of the artist, or a listingof the particular genre the artist's music falls under. Additionally,the user may create a similar artist playlist, as will be discussed withreference to FIG. 46, by clicking on the create similar artist playlistbutton 3815. Once again, in this embodiment, the user 102 can also ratethe particular artist by clicking on the rating tool button 3820. As wasdiscussed above, any ratings entered by a particular user helps createan enhanced experience for the user as the media server obtainsadditional information about the likes and dislikes of a particularuser. Additionally, in one embodiment, display 3825 may include alisting of similar artists so that the user can explore music by asimilar artist as well. Additional albums by that particular artist canalso be displayed, as can be seen in display 3830. In anotherembodiment, as can additionally be seen in FIGS. 37-38, the user has theability to navigate within displays, to go forward or backward from onedisplay to another by clicking on the backward and/or forward buttons3720, respectively. This enhances the user's experience, allowing themto navigate between different displays as one would be able to within atypical internet browser, for example.

In another embodiment, a user may search for songs within the mediadatabase 120 by a variable that is only in the album name of a song byselecting album from drop-down menu 3504 and entering the searchcriteria in field 3502. As can be seen in FIG. 39, if a user chooses tosearch albums from drop-down menu 3504 and populates, for example, field3502 with the search string “crazy,” the media engine 106 will return alist of albums in pane 3910 that match that particular criteria. Onceagain, the user may choose from drop-down menu 3506 whether to searchfor media located in the media database, in the user's “my music”collection and/or both. In addition to the album name, an image of thealbum cover may also be displayed in pane 3910 along with the artist'sname and in one embodiment the year that the album was produced may alsobe displayed. Similar to previous embodiments, a “my music” column mayalso be shown to indicate whether any songs from the particular albumare located in a user's “my music” collection. Once again, similar toprevious embodiments, a user may access additional information about aparticular album by clicking on that particular album name and/or imageas can be seen in FIG. 40. As can be seen in FIG. 40, a display thatincludes additional information about the album is shown in pane 4010.Once again, from within the display, the user may rate the particularalbum by clicking on the rating tool 4015 or view the names ofadditional users who enjoyed that particular album by clicking on thefans of this album button 4025. In one embodiment, pane 4020 may show alisting of all the songs located on that particular album. Once again, auser can navigate from this album page to any previously viewed pages byclicking on forward or backward buttons 3720.

In another embodiment, the user is given the ability to search forinformation related to another user of the media engine 106 to accesssongs that the other user prefers. As was discussed above, differentusers 102 are distinctly identified by a user Name or other identifier,which is also preferably associated with various preferences for thatuser stored on the network. Thus, in one embodiment, a user can searchfor another user's music by using the other user's identifier, or by thesystem finding the user or users that fit certain search criteria basedon user preference and/or user behavior. For example as can be seen inFIG. 41, if a user populates field 3502 with a search term (e.g., John)and chooses to search through a user Name from dropdown menu 3504, asearch result may be displayed in pane 4110 that shows all of the usersthat have that particular search term (e.g., John) within their userName. If a user clicks upon a particular user from within pane 4110(e.g., john_g) a page as can be seen in FIG. 42 will be displayed inpane 4210 that shows additional information about the user includingartists, genres or albums that the chosen user has rated highly.Alternatively, a song title may be entered, and the drop down menu cancontain an “all users” selection, to initiate a search of users' mediafiles for a particular song. As another example, if the search is doneinstead on genres, a list of users that like a particular genre would bereturned, or by further example, all users that like a particular song,artist, album or the like.

The use and creation of playlists in connection with one embodiment ofthe present invention will now be discussed with reference to FIGS.43-48. The use of a playlist allows the user to listen to a number ofmedia files organized by the user according to some user preference orother criteria.

Utilizing the user's “my music” collection or other media availablethrough media server 118 or network 300, a user can easily create aplaylist by ordering songs in a way that the user wishes to play them orsome other order. This order of songs is then stored in a playlistdatabase 340, on processor 103, in both locations, or other locations onnetwork 300. For example, if a user wishes to create a playlist of Song6, Song 8 and Song 10 that are each in the user's “my music” collection,the media engine 106 will create a file that will contain a list ofpointers that point to the location of Song 6, Song 8, and Song 10,respectively, and send that file to the playlist database 340. Thislocation information is preferably made available as a result of themedia engine's 106 initial collection of information about each of theuser's available media files or may occur at the time the song isselected for inclusion in the playlist. Thus when the user wishes toaccess the newly formed playlist, the media engine is able to locate andplay those songs that are in the playlist. These playlists can beaccessed from any location from which a user may run media engine 106.

The ability to create a more robust and versatile playlist from a user's“my music” interface discussed above with reference to FIG. 2, that canthen be listened to by the user 102 from any processor 103 that the user102 is located at will now be discussed in reference to FIG. 43. From auser's interface 200, user 102 is able to create a playlist by selectinga particular song that the user 102 wishes to add to create a newplaylist. For example, as can be seen in FIG. 43, the results of asearch that is searching for all media within this particular user's “mymusic” collection that has the string “mo” in it is displayed ininterface 4305. As can further be seen in FIG. 43, the user then has theability to click on buttons 4306 or 4307 to create and refine his or herplaylist. For example, in FIG. 43, pane 4310 does not have any songs inthe playlist; however, instructions are displayed showing the user howsongs may be added to the playlist. As can be seen in FIG. 44, if theuser elects to add songs to a playlist, by clicking on a select song andthen clicking on the “add to playlist” button 4306, a new playlist iscreated for this particular user in pane 4410. This could also beaccomplished through a drag and drop method by dragging the song intopane 4310 or over to playlist tab 232. Thus, through this interface theuser is able to create a playlist that consists of all media availableas part of a user's collection that contains the string “mo”. If forexample the user would then wish to remove one of the songs or all ofthe songs from the particular playlist the user can click on the “removefrom playlist” button 4307 which would then remove those songs from theplaylist. After this playlist has been created, the user has the abilityto save the new playlist as a file by clicking on the “save newplaylist” button 4308. Once the user clicks on the save new playlistbutton the user is preferably given the ability to name or otherwiseidentify the playlist and can then access the user's playlists at anytime from the playlist list 232 in interface 201. As was discussedearlier in reference to FIG. 2, the playlists that are listed in pulldown list 232 become available for the user to access from any locationwhere the user is located and using media engine 106.

In another embodiment a user is able to easily create a playlistconsisting of songs with a particular search criteria by manuallyselecting each song that the user wishes to include in the particularplaylist area. Thus, a user can manually utilize their “my music”collection or the network at large to create a playlist thatincorporates those particular songs that the user wishes to have in aparticular playlist and can then access that playlist from a variety oflocations. This is facilitated once again by media engine 106 and theinformation compiled by the media engine about a user's available media.Similar to individual songs added to a user's “my music” collection,these playlists become accessible for the user from any location thatthe user has access to media engine 106.

Another embodiment of the present invention used to generate playlistswill now be discussed with reference to FIG. 45 and the interfacesdepicted in FIGS. 46-48. In this embodiment, the system can generate aplaylist that is based on a relation of particular songs, artists oralbums to each other and any affinity that those songs, artists oralbums may have to each other. Different users may have different likesand dislikes for different songs, artists and/or albums. In general,however, users that like a particular song, for example, will likelyenjoy other songs by that artist or songs that are similar to thatparticular song. Therefore, it is possible to create an affinityrelationship between songs, albums, and/or artists by compiling a listof songs that are commonly liked by one user. Thus, for instance, if auser likes song A and song B, it is possible that the two songs arerelated in some way and that is why the user likes both of the songs. Iftwo users both like song A and song B, the chance of the songs beingsimilar or that affinity to each other is stronger because now anadditional user has shown his or her like for both songs. Similarly, if1,000 users like both song A and song B, the chance of there being anaffinity or similarity in the songs is increased. In this embodiment,factoring in the likes and dislikes of a particular user, the mediaserver utilizes an affinities engine 350 to generate a playlist thatmatches affinity criteria and/or degree of similarity between artist,albums or songs as desired by the user. As is depicted in FIG. 45, themedia engine 106 receives the criteria (e.g., a particular artist orsong) from user 102, step 4510. Once received by the media engine 106,the criteria is passed along to media server 118, step 4520 The mediaserver then runs the criteria through affinities engine 350, step 4530.For example, the system may collect user information concerninglistening patterns and preferences, and process that information todevelop a database of relationship among items of media. Thus, forexample, the system may, through processing user information, or bydirect input by system administrators or operators, glean that manyusers that listen to artist A also listen to artist B, and thus thesystem can associate artist A and artist B as similar. The system canalso utilize user genre ratings, third party reviews, implicit orexplicit user behavior analysis, human editors or other informationsources in developing affinity relationships. By way of non-limitingexample, an exemplary formula processed by the affinity engine toestablish the affinity between songs, artist and/or albums will bediscussed below.

Once the affinity engine computes the affinities in accordance withcriteria selected by the user, the media server 118 creates a playlistbased on those affinity results. Step 4540. The media server thenforwards a file containing pointers to the songs in the newly createdplaylist to media engine 106. Step 4550. The media engine then creates auser interface to display the songs in the playlist and grant access tothose songs for the user. Step 4560.

The creation of an affinity playlist from a user's perspective will nowbe shown with reference to FIGS. 46 and 38. As was discussed above withreference to FIG. 38, users have the ability to create a playlist basedon music that is similar to an artist by, for example, choosing the“create a playlist of similar artist” button 3815. When a user choosesto create a similar artist playlist, the media engine 106 queries themedia server 118 for the results of the playlist for the particularartist and that playlist is then displayed for the user 102 in pane 4610as can be seen in FIG. 46. As can be seen in FIG. 46 a new playlistcalled for example “Like Pearl Jam” is added to the User's 102 playlistlist 232 in pane 201 which can then be accessed by the user at any time.It should be noted that in alternative embodiments, the media server 118may recreate a Playlist that matches the chosen affinity each time theaffinity Playlist is requested. Once the Playlist has been created, aUser 102 can preferably also burn that Playlist to a CD or move it toother removable media device by clicking on the “Burn CD” button between4601. This will cause actual media files to be stored on an externaldevice or burned onto a portable media like a CD, or other storagemedium now known or to become known.

The issue of whether users have appropriate rights to experience certainmedia can also be addressed by the media engine. Media engine 106preferably contains digital rights management functionality to ensurethat various copyright rights and media rights of owner's licenses arerespected. Thus, while there are described herein embodiments thatfacilitate users sharing their media experiences, adequate controls canbe incorporated into the system to frustrate unauthorized use of media.For example, media engine 106 can incorporate software and/or hardwareto recognize digital rights management information that may be part ofthe media file and/or media metadata, and respond to user's requestsaccordingly by granting or denying access to the media based on thatuser's rights. For example, as was described above, access to the songsin the media database 120 can be based on a tiered membership based ondiffering subscription fees. Certain users therefore will be allowedaccess to certain media that other users are not allowed access to. Thatbeing the case, the possibility exists that one user will forward toanother user songs that the other user is not authorized to access. Insuch a situation, according to one embodiment of the present inventionthe second user would be alerted to this fact and be offered the abilityto sign up to the appropriate subscription service or to purchase rightsin the desired item of media.

In another embodiment, access, viewing capabilities, and sharing rightsbetween users preferably depend on certain conditions being recognizedby the media management systems of media server 118. In one example,access, viewing, and sharing capabilities are based upon the systemfirst recognizing the metadata associated with the media file andwhether the particular media file is available through the mediamanagement system's services (e.g. subscription or not). If the systemrecognizes the metadata associated with the media file and the mediafile is within the system's services (e.g. available on media database120 or other authorized service 130), or within the user(s)'subscription, the media file may be shared, viewed, and accessed amongusers. However, if the system does not recognize the metadata of a mediafile and/or the media file is outside of the system's authorizedofferings, the receiving user will not be able to access or view theparticular media file. It is noted that these conditions are merelyexemplary and the system can base access and sharing rights on otherconditions such as whether the users are within a subscription plan orother DRM parameter.

In an alternate embodiment similar playlists can also be created forsongs and/or artists in a similar manner. Namely as can been seen inFIG. 47 if a user selects the “create a similar playlist of songs”button 4715 from a song page 4700, the media engine 106 will query themedia server 118 for songs with a high affinity to the song selected andwill display such a playlist for the user as can be seen in FIG. 48.Once again similar to what was discussed above with reference to FIG. 46the user can elect to burn the created playlist to a CD by selecting“Burn CD” button 4802 or play the playlist from within their “my music”interface by choosing the “like Yellow” playlist from their playlistlist 232. Alternatively from song page 4700, a user can play the song byclicking on “Play Song” button 4705, add the song to his or her “mymusic” collection by clicking on “In My Music” button 4710, purchase thesong by clicking on the “Buy Song” button 4720, send the song to anotheruser by clicking on the “Send to a Friend” button 4725 or rate the songby clicking on the rating tool 4730.

As was discussed above with reference to FIG. 45, an exemplary affinityengine is employed to develop identified and stored affinities betweensongs, artists or albums or other media-related information or metadatafor use by the system. In one embodiment, affinities are used to createplaylists as described above, but may also be used to present new mediaoptions to a user, or to effect what may be presented by other servicesor network 300, e.g. radio stations, commerce sites and the like. By wayof non-limiting example, a formula preferably used by the affinityengine for the calculation of an artist affinity is described below,wherein:

A=the number of users who like artist A;

B=the number of users who like artist B; and

AB=the number of users who like artist A and artist B.

The affinity of artist A to artist B would equal (AB/A)×100, while theaffinity of artist B to artist A equals (AB/B)×100. Through such aformula the system is able to compute the affinity or relationshipbetween two artists. Although this formula is discussed in terms ofartists, a similar formula can be used in terms of album and/or song orother item of media. Preferably, media rating data is sent to andcompiled within media server 118 so the system can use that rating dataand create a relationship between different media, artists, and/oralbums. Once this data is compiled using the formula above, an affinityis determined between two different artists, albums, and/or songs. Oncethis affinity is established and stored, a playlist can be created basedon that affinity. Depending on whether the user wants to create a highlysimilar or divergent playlist, songs or other media items can becompiled with a degree of variance based on the degree of their affinityto each other. In addition to the exemplary techniques set forth herein,other art-recognized affinity determining applications or techniques canbe used or developed to identify affinities.

In an embodiment of the present invention, an additional factor ispreferably taken into account to create the affinity playlist. Thisfactor is the total number (N) of users 102 that are using the system.This variable factors into account cases where the affinity between oneartist and another artist may be skewed by artists that are very popularversus artists that are not popular at all. For example using the abovelisted formula, an artist that is popular with 95% of the users may havean affinity to many more artists than an artist who is popular with only5% of the users. The artist that is popular with 95% of the users willtherefore appear to have a high affinity to nearly every other artistbecause an artist that has a great popularity is invariably going tohave an overlap with another artist that was rated highly by many of theusers of the system. Therefore, in order to balance out this equation,instead of using the equation, (AB/A)×100, the formula for determiningan affinity from artist A to artist B, taking into account thepopularity of an artist is (AB/A)÷(B/N) and the formula for determiningthe affinity between artist B and artist A factoring in the popularityof an artist is (AB/B)÷(A/N). This formula divides the relationship ofartist A to B by the number of total users that like artist A. Thislowers the affinity to an artist that is very popular while it raisesthe affinity to an artist that is very unpopular. In other words, anartist that is very popular will have to have a lot of users who likethat artist and another artist to have a strong affinity to that artist,while an unpopular artist will need to have fewer users in common tohave the same affinity. Therefore, using the above mentioned exemplaryformulas, the system is capable of determining an affinity between oneartist, album or song and another artist, album or song based on thelikes and dislikes of other users. Based on affinity calculations andcriteria selected by a user, a playlist can be created that willcomprise artists, albums or songs that are most or least similar to aparticular artist, album or song thereby enhancing a user's experience.

It should also be noted that affinity data can also be used toautomatically generate a list of similar albums, artists or songs for aparticular user. Thus, even without the creation of a playlist, in oneembodiment, a user can request a list of albums similar to a particularalbum and based on the previously mentioned affinities data, a list ofsimilar albums can be complied. Alternatively, the media engine 106 canalso automatically recommend similar albums to a user based on thisaffinity data. For example, every time a user opens the media engine106, the interface can display a list of recommended albums based on thealbums' affinity to albums rated highly by the user. Thus in addition totracking the media available to a user, the media engine 106, alone orin cooperation or combination with media server 118, is also able tointelligently recommend other media to the user based on other musicthat the media engine knows the user prefers.

In another embodiment, the media engine is able to manage a playlist insuch a manner that the playlist is not merely played back to the user ina particular pre-assigned order or random order. Rather, the mediaengine and/or media server 118 is able to generate an order for thesongs in the playlist that better reflects the user's likes anddislikes. Once again referring to FIG. 48, a user interface thatincorporates functionality that provides a user the ability, in playinga playlist, to utilize a randomize feature that is based on dataacquired by the media engine 106. In order to access such a randomizedplaying of the media located in the playlist, the user would preferablyselect smart shuffle button 4805. When selecting smart shuffle button4805, the playlist will begin to play the songs in the playlist in anorder that is not completely randomly selected, but rather the order ofthe playlist is based in part on data that the media engine 106 and/ormedia server 118 has acquired about the user. In other words as will bediscussed in more detail below, the system will consider various factorssuch as user ratings and/or other factors such as frequency of play,time the song was last played, whether or not the song has been burnedby the user or recommended to friend, what other artists are in theplaylist, or other factors. The smart shuffle feature factors in thesystem's knowledge of the users' listening preferences to create a moreenhanced user experience. This is yet another use of the user datagarnered by media engine 106 and/or media server 118, which issupplemented as the user continues to use the system in order to createa more enhanced and personalized listening experience for the user.

As can be seen with reference to FIG. 49, according to one embodiment ofthe present invention, a process is carried out to create a playlistwhose order is based on various user preferences so as to create aplaylist whose order is more pleasing to user 102. In this exemplaryembodiment, a list of media files to be included in the playlist isselected by the user 102. Step 4901. It should be noted that althoughdiscussed in terms of a user selecting which media files are placed intothe playlist, a playlist can also be created using any or all mediafiles located anywhere throughout the network 300. Also, functionalityand processing may take place in various locations on the network, notonly as described. This processing and data storage can be distributedacross network components and not confined to a single element onnetwork 300. Once the list of songs for the playlist is generated, mediaengine 106 queries media server 118 for information about eachparticular media file to be sorted into the playlist. Step 4903. Thisinformation includes any rating information that is available for user102 for this particular media file as well as information about when themedia file was last played. Once the media engine 106 receives thisinformation from the media server 118, a score is generated for eachparticular media file based on when the media file was last played bythe user 102. Step 4905. This “last played score” according to oneembodiment is generated on a 1-100 scale with 100 being the mostrecently played media file from the list of media files being includedin the playlist and 1 being the least recently played song and all ofthe other songs containing a value between 1 and 100 based on theirlinear relation to most and least recently played songs. Once a “lastplayed score” is assigned for each media file or song, the media engine106 looks to the rating data available for the particular song to see ifthe user 102 has rated this song. Step 4907. If the user has rated thesong, a “song rating score” is assigned to the media file based forexample on a 1-100 rating scale, with 100 being the highest rating and 1being the lowest rating. Step 4908. If the song has not been rated bythe user, the media engine then looks to the rating information todetermine if the album that the song is associated with has been ratedby the user. Step 4909. If the album has been rated by the user 102, an“album rating score” is assigned to a media file based on the user'srating of the album associated with the song. Step 4910. Once again, inone embodiment the score is based on a 1-100 scale with 100 being themost highly rated album and 1 being the lowest rated album. If the albumhas not been rated by the user, the media engine 106 then reviews therating information to see if the artist associated with the album hasbeen rated by the user. Step 4911. If the artist has been rated by theuser, an “artist rating score” is generated by the media engine 106based on the rating given by the user 102. Step 4912. Once again, thisscore according to one embodiment is preferably generated based on a1-100 scale with 100 being the most highly rated artist and 1 being thelowest rated artist. If the artist associated with this song also hasnot been rated, a “default rating score” will be associated with themedia file. Step 4913. In one embodiment, this rating score would be ascore of 50. Once all the various scores have been assigned to theparticular media file or song, the scores are preferably weighted so asto give the proper significance to each of the scores. In oneembodiment, this rating is accomplished by multiplying the “playedrecently rating” by 0.17, and if available, the “song rating score” by0.83, the “album rating score” by 0.80, the “artist rating score” andthe “default rating score” by 0.77. Step 4915. Once all the scores arecomputed and weighted, which computation may occur on user processor 103as part of media engine 106, or at media server 118, or elsewhere onnetwork 300, the weighted scores are added to each other and compiled tocreate one “overall score” for each media file in the list of files tobe included in the playlist. Once an “overall score” is computed foreach of the media files, a formula is run for each individual file toascertain the proper slot in the playlist for that media file. Step4917. According to one exemplary embodiment, the formula that is used toselect the slot for the media file is:i=[N*(R/N)^(p)]^(0.94);

N=the # of items in the list

R=a random integer in the range [0, N]

p=a constant value used to increase the weighting on higher scoringitems

i=the chosen slot to insert the media file into.

Once the slot is determined for each particular media file, a playlistis generated based on those results. Step 4919.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, an additionalfactor that is utilized by the media engine 106 in connection withgenerating a playlist is artist separation. This factor allows mediaengine 106 to create a playlist that ensures that whenever possible,songs from a particular artist are not repeated within a playlist or atleast not repeated too closely in time. It should be appreciated thatalthough this embodiment is being discussed in terms of artistseparation, a similar embodiment is also envisioned where playlists areseparated by song or album separation and/or genre separation or anyother factor associated with a song or media file. In order to createthe artist separation, a list is tabulated by the media engine or mediaserver that totals the number of songs for each particular artist fromwithin songs chosen for a playlist. Once this task is completed, aminimum separation number can also be generated for each song based onthe information garnered from this tabulated list. In order to create aminimum separation number, the following formula is used:$\frac{{total}\quad{number}\quad{of}\quad{songs}}{{number}\quad{of}\quad{songs}\quad{by}\quad{the}\quad{particular}\quad{{artist}.}}$

Thus, for each artist associated with a song in this list of media filesto be included in the playlist, a minimum separation number will begenerated. For example, if there are a total of 50 songs chosen by auser to be placed into a playlist, and a particular artist X isassociated with 10 of those songs, the minimum separation number forartist X would be 50 divided by 10 or 5. When the playlist is generated,the media engine 106 keeps track of the last slot occupied by media filefor each particular artist, the minimum separation number is then addedto that slot number and no song by that particular artist will then beplaced in any slot number higher than the slot number+the separationnumber. For example, if a song by artist X is chosen to be placed inslot number 3 in the playlist after the formula is run on thatparticular media file, and the minimum separation number for thatparticular artist is 5, when generating a playlist with artistseparation, no songs by artist A will be allowed to be placed in slots4, 5, 6, or 7, and the media engine will attempt to place that song inslot 8 or later. If a slot is chosen for a particular song that is notavailable, the media file will be placed in the next available slot. Inone embodiment, if the end of the playlist is reached by going throughthis process of slot filling, the process will begin once again from thefirst slot in the playlist. It should be noted that any or all of theabove discussed preferences can be either set by the media engine 106 orbe chosen by each individual user for each individual playlist.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a playlist may begenerated automatically based on particular criteria. In thisembodiment, the system is able to create a playlist based on specificuser criteria. For example, the user is able to choose differentcriteria such as artist, album, genre, date that the song was added tothe system, last time the song was played for this particular user,rating, or other criteria, from a drop-down menu. Based on the chosencriteria, a list of modifiers is given to the user that is appropriatefor those particular criteria. For example, if the criteria chosen were“date added”, the modifier list would for example included “is”, “isafter”, “is before”, “on or before”, “on or after”, “is not”. All ofthese choices being applicable to a specific date entered by the user.On the other hand if the criteria chosen by the user were genre, thenthis modifier list would include choices, such as “is” or “is not,”these choices being applicable to the criteria of genre. After themodifier is chosen, the user is prompted to insert a term that would beapplicable to the playlist wanted. For example, if a user chose “genre”as their criteria, “is not” as their modifier” and the word “disco” asthe term, the system would automatically generate a playlist of songs inwhich the genre was not disco. Once again these playlists can then beaccessible from any location where the user is running the media engine106.

In one embodiment of the present invention, there are additional choicesthat may be given to a user in creating the playlist. For example, auser may be given a choice to select whether they wish to incorporatemultiple conditions for their playlist or whether they would prefer aplaylist that only meets a certain number of the conditions.Additionally, the user can select how long the playlist should be andwhether or not to limit the playlist to a certain number of songs. Thus,if the conditions of a playlist return 1,000 songs for example and theuser only wishes to have a playlist that is a length of 25 songs, theuser would alleviate this problem by choosing to limit the playlist to25 songs. The 25 songs that would be used for the playlist can either bechose at random by the media engine or can once again be selected usinguser selected criteria. For example, a user may further narrow theplaylist by selecting that the 25 song playlist should be the 25 mosthighly rated songs or the 25 most recently listened to songs. Thus, themedia engine can return a playlist with numerous different tiers ofcriteria. This eliminates the creation of a playlist that is larger thanthe one envisioned by the user or larger than a particular size that theuser's storage medium can hold. Thus, in the previously discussedexample a user would have created a 25 song playlist of the most popularor most recent songs matching the user's criteria.

Additional criteria that may be set by the user include whether the userwould like the system to continuously update the playlist based on thecriteria. A playlist created using this option can periodically changebased on the media that is added to the system. So for example, if aplaylist was created that encompassed all media where the genre was “notdisco,” the composition of the playlist would change every time anadditional piece of media, which was not disco, was added to the system.Thus, if a user chooses the live updating feature, the media engine mayrun the search criteria at fixed or variable times, or every time thatthe playlist is requested, in order to incorporate any new media thatmay have been added to the system since the last time the search wasrun. Thus, the user can have the ability to listen to a playlist ofsongs that match the conditions and criteria selected but the playlistmay not necessarily consist of the same songs each time the playlist isrequested. In other words, each time the playlist is selected orrequested, the media engine creates the updated playlist based on theprevious criteria assigned to the playlist.

An example of a user interface used in connection with the function ofcreation of the criteria of playlists discussed in the previousembodiment is shown in FIG. 73. For example, from this interface theuser is able to select a criteria from the drop-down list 7301, amodifier term from drop-down list 7302 and insert a value into field7303. Once all the conditions are set the user can either click togenerate a playlist button 7310 and/or save criteria as button 7312.When clicked upon, the media engine 106 alone or in tandem with mediaserver 118, or media server 118 itself, generates a playlist such as,for example, in the form shown in user interface portion 7315. However,if the user does not wish to generate a playlist for immediate viewing,he or she may click on the “save criteria as” button 7312 that will savethe conditions selected and allow the user to easily create a playlistmatching those chosen conditions at a later point in time. Once theplaylist is created, the user preferably has various options as to whatto do with that playlist by clicking on the buttons located belowinterface 7315. In this embodiment, the user can either play theplaylist by clicking on the play button 7316, or download the playlistto their local device by clicking on the download button 7318. Inaddition, the user may add a song to, or entire playlist to, anotherplaylist by clicking on the “add to” button 7317 or obtain more detailedinformation about the playlist or a particular song by clicking on theinformation button 7319. The user may also choose save the playlist byclicking on the “save list as” button 7320. In one embodiment, if theuser elects to save the playlist, the playlist will be saved in the formthat it was generated. In other words, the particular songs that werechosen by the system to match the conditions set by the user will alwaysreside in that playlist. The file that is saved preferably only containspointers to the location of each of the individual songs in theplaylist. In contrast, however, if the user elects to only save thecriteria of the playlist, by clicking on the save criteria as button7312, only the particular criteria for generating the playlist may besaved to a file on the user's processor and thus the next time thisplaylist is run, the media engine will generate a playlist that maygenerate a different list of songs that also match the criteria selectedby the user. Of course if the user elects to save the playlist on aportable device or storage medium, the actual media files may be stored.

The ability to create a criteria playlist allows the user to generate aplaylist based on specific criteria and then save that playlist forlater listening. Alternatively, the user can send the criteria playlistto another user via e-mail, instant messaging, peer networking, or anyother communication channel known or to become known. For example, ifthe user creates a criteria playlist that includes the criteria, forexample, of songs that were uploaded after Sep. 1, 2004 with specificcriteria, one user can send the criteria to another user. The other usercan use the same criteria to create his or her own playlist based on themedia available to that other user. For example, if user A runs theplaylist on his or her “my music” collection the playlist may returnsongs A, B and C, user 2 might run the same playlist criteria and bereturned songs D, E and F. On the other hand, a user also has theability to save the playlist as it was generated, namely with the samesongs and or media that was generated when the user initially generatedthe playlist. Therefore, when communicating such a playlist, the otheruser will receive a file containing pointers to the location of thosespecific songs in network 300.

The creation of an exemplary affinity playlist according to anotherembodiment of the present invention will now be discussed with referenceto FIGS. 74 and 75. Looking to FIG. 74, users have the ability to createa playlist based on music that is similar to or not similar to an albumor artist by, for example, choosing the criteria from a drop-down menu7401. Once the user has chosen whether they wish music similar to aparticular album and/or not similar to a particular album, similar to aparticular artist and/or not similar to a particular artist, the usermay choose an artist and/or album from artist drop-down list 7402 oralbum drop-down list 7403. Also, a degree of similarity may be chosen,e.g. “not too similar,” “very similar,” etc. The system would thenadjust the algorithms utilized to find similarity between two or moreitems by applying more or less stringent similarity factors, as per auser's choice.

Additionally, a user is preferably given the option to choose a level ofobscurity by selecting the level of obscurity on obscurity knob 7404.The obscurity of a particular song/artist or album in a measure of thedegree of affinity an item has with other items in a chosen category.Obscurity is preferably determined by the collective rating or listeningpatterns of that song/artist/album among other users on the network,and/or through system operator input. For example, if the user wishes tocreate a playlist with very obscure songs, the media engine 106 willquery media server 118 to find songs that have not been rated by xnumber of users in the last y number of days. Thus the resultingplaylist will consist of songs that are obscure relative to other songslocated on the network, meaning other users have not rated or listenedto the song often.

After choosing the obscurity, the user is preferably also given theoption to select whether they wish the playlist to be generated with awide variety of artists and/or albums or whether the songs should mostlybe from the same artist and/or album. Once the user has selected thecriteria, similar to the playlists discussed previously, the user mayhave the option to either generate a playlist by clicking on thegenerate playlist button 7406 or save the criteria as a file by clickingon the “save criteria as” button 7407. Media engine 106 preferablyforwards criteria to media server 118. Once the playlist is generated,the results of the playlist may be displayed in interface 7410.Additionally, similar to the previously discussed playlists, a user maybe able to either play the playlist by clicking on the play button 7416,download the playlist by clicking on button 7418, add the playlist toanother playlist by clicking on button 7417 or get additionalinformation about the playlist or any song in the playlist by clickingon information button 7419. The user can save the playlist as a file byclicking on “save list as” button 7420.

In another embodiment, as can be seen in FIG. 75, a playlist can begenerated based on similarity to an artist and/or a particular song.Similar to the previously discussed embodiment, the user will choosecriteria as to whether they wish music that is similar or not similar toa particular song by selecting criteria from drop-down list 7401, theonly difference being that in this embodiment, the user would choose asong from drop-down menu 7403 instead of an album. Similar other optionslike artist, genre or rating can also be utilized.

In one embodiment of the present invention as is shown in FIG. 76, oncea playlist is created, the user has various different options as to whatto do with the created playlist. For example a user can either play theplaylist as in previous embodiments by clicking on the play playlistbutton 7630, or alternatively, the user may burn the playlist onto a CDthat is located in device 114 by clicking on the “burn a CD” button7631. In one embodiment, when a user clicks on the burn a CD button7631, or save it to a portable media player or other storage media. Heor she is prompted to insert a blank CD into device 114 so that theplaylist can be burned onto the CD. If the playlist is too long and/ortoo large for the CD, the user is alerted to this fact and is offeredthe option of either changing the media type or selecting which songsfrom the playlist the user wishes to burn onto the CD. Alternatively,the user can choose to copy the playlist to a portable media storagedevice, such as by way of non-limiting example an MP3 player or thelike, so as to make a playlist portable. In such embodiments, theplaylist will not contain merely pointers but will comprise the actualmedia file and optionally associated metadata.

Additionally, a user may choose to publish their playlist to other usersof the system by, for example, clicking on the publish playlist button7633. By electing to publish the playlist, a user will be prompted toenter a name for the playlist. The playlist will be saved on processor103 and/or at media server 118 or other location on the network 300. Theuser is preferably given the option of making the published playlistpublic, thus allowing other users to not only view the playlist but tolisten to media listed in the playlist as well. The ability to publish aplaylist has the added benefit of making the playlist completelyportable by being available to all users, as it will be residing on themedia server 118 or other user accessible location(s) on the network.

The publishing of a playlist according to one embodiment of the presentinvention will now be discussed with reference to FIG. 77. First theuser creates the playlist. Step 7700. This playlist can be created inany number of different ways (i.e., criteria playlists; affinityplaylists) as was discussed above. Once the playlist is created, theuser can elect to publish the playlist. Step 7710. If the user choosesto publish the playlist, the media engine 106 will query media server118 to determine whether media database 120 has available to it all thesongs in the playlist. Step 7720. If there are songs in the playlistthat are not in the media database 120, the media engine 106 will copythose songs to media database 120. Step 7730. Once the media database120 has all of the songs in the playlist, the name and content of theplaylist is saved in the playlist database 120. Step 7740. Thus, ifanother user requests that playlist, for example through the searchfunctions described elsewhere herein or through the “friends”functionality also described elsewhere herein, the playlist can beserved to that user. Step 7750. The published playlist can containpointers that identify the network location(s) at which the media fileresides or may be accessed (a pointer may comprise a URL or URI),metadata or actual media files, although preferably the playlistcontains pointers to avoid the need to store multiple copies of the samemedia file on the network. Thus, a playlist can be made available to auser by publishing the playlist via the network.

According to another embodiment in the present invention, as is depictedin FIG. 50, a user is able to utilize the media engine 106 to identifyand communicate with other users that are connected to the system via aninstant messaging program. As was discussed above, each user preferablyhas a messaging program 108 on their processor 103 through which theycan communicate with other users utilizing the messaging platform. Themessaging program 108 may be presented as a stand-alone feature for justmessaging and/or be integrated into the media engine 106 functionalitywhen expanded media-related functions are desired. Core messagingfunctionality can be utilized by multiple applications on processor 103,depending on user requirements. Within the messaging program,information is preferably stored about the user's messaging preferences.This information can include, for example, a list of “friends” or otherusers with which that user is acquainted in some way. This list iscompiled by each individual user and can include co-workers, family orclassmates, for example. From within the messenger client, this list of“friends” allows a user to easily interact with other users that he orshe wishes to interact with on a regular basis. According to oneembodiment of the present invention, media engine 106 may utilize thisinformation from the messaging program 108 to improve a user's medialistening experience. For example, the media engine 106 can use the“friends” information from the messaging program to share mediainformation and experiences among users. As was noted above, mediaengine 106 preferably compiles and stores information about each user'sparticular available media files. In this embodiment the media engineutilizes the messaging program to allow each user to view and/or accessmedia available to their friends.

One exemplary user interface in connection with this functionality isdepicted in FIG. 50. As can be seen in FIG. 50, if a user accesses themessenger button 234 from pane 201, a list of the user's “friends” 5005are displayed in pane 5010. As can be seen in FIG. 51, in oneembodiment, the user may also see a drop-down list of its “friends” 5106in pane 201 by clicking on the arrow 5104 next to messenger button 234.Through the user interfaces discussed in FIGS. 50-54, the user will beable to display media files that one of his or her “friends” have intheir “my music” collection. Media engine 106 can generate a userinterface that displays information about the media of another user whois both running a media engine 106 as well as a messaging program 108.Similar to a user's “my music” collection, a user will also have theability, preferably with proper rights management permissions, toexplore and listen to any of its “friend's” music as well as playlistsand/or other preferences of the particular “friend”. For example, as isdepicted in FIG. 52, if a user highlights a particular friend from list5106 (e.g., JohnB), pane 5220 will populate a list with all songs inJohnB's “my music” collection. Similar to the embodiments discussedabove in relation to a user's “my music” collection interface, a list ofall songs in JohnB's “my music” collection will be listed in the right,bottom-most pane 5220. This list is sorted in columns representinginformation about each respective song, including, for example, songtitle 5222, duration 5224, artist 5226, album 5228, track 5230, and thelast time this particular song was played 5232. It should be noted thatthese columns are only exemplary and columns including other informationabout a particular song, such as genre or the ability to rate aparticular song with a rating tool as was discussed above in referenceto FIG. 2, can also be included in the listing in pane 5220.Additionally, a full listing of all of the artists' songs in JohnB's “mymusic” collection will preferably be displayed in pane 5240. In additionto information about media files located in a “friend's” “my music”collection, a user may also access additional information about the“friend” from within interface 5000. Information from user to user ispreferably passed through messaging program 108, but may be passed inany data transfer methodology now known or to become known. For example,a user may access profile information about his or her “friend,” thatcan indicate, for instance, hobbies and/or likes or dislikes of the“friend” as well as access the “friend's” internet radio station frompane 5210. This profile information about each user each user is storedin User Information Database 360 as was discussed above with referenceto FIG. 3. User preference data is also storable and exchangeable. MediaEngine 106 obtains this profile information and allows a user to accessit from within pane 5210. In one embodiment, a user can also select toadd his or her “friend” as an “influencer” for their radio station. If auser chooses to add his or her “friend” as an “influencer”, when themedia server 118 streams music via an Internet Radio to the user it willstream songs with a bias toward songs preferred by the “influencer” orwhen providing recommendations to a user those recommendations will bebased on songs rated highly by the “influencer”. In other words thesongs streamed or recommended by the media server 118 will be songsrated highly by the “friend” chosen as an influencer. The amount ofinfluence can be altered by the user or system, or both, based onpredetermined or calculated factors such as implicit or explicit userbehavior or other preference-based techniques discussed herein.

As can be seen in FIG. 53, the user may further narrow his or her viewof the “friend's” “my music” listing by clicking on a particular artist(i.e., Emmylou Harris) from the artist listing in pane 5240. The usercan then see a listing of albums in pane 5310 for that particularartist. Additionally, only songs by that particular artist that are inthe “friend's” “my music” collection will be displayed in pane 5220. Auser may further narrow the view in pane 5220 by selecting an album fromthe listing in pane 5310 as can be seen in FIG. 54. By choosing aparticular album from pane 5310, a user is given a listing of only songsfrom that album in the particular “friend's” (i.e., JohnB) “my music”collection. Additionally as can be seen in FIGS. 50-54, similar to theway a user can browse his or her own “my music” collection by eitherartist, album, genre, or song, as was discussed above in reference toFIGS. 2-3 the user can similarly browse a “friend's” “my music”collection by selecting which criteria to browse from the drop-down menu5201. Media items can then be selected for playing, storing, adding toplaylists and the like, in the same or similar manner as that describedelsewhere herein. In short, a user's friend's “my music” collectionbecomes an extension of that user's “my music” collection.

Similar to the embodiments discussed in reference to FIGS. 18-32 above,in another embodiment to the present invention, a user may searchthrough another user's media collection. As can be seen in FIG. 55, userinterface 5500 contains field 5501 wherein a search term may be enteredand drop-down menu 5502 wherein a category to search for the search termmay be selected. For example, in FIG. 55, a display is shown where auser has selected to search for the term “John” throughout all artistsin JohnB's “my music” collection. Once the user has selected the searchterm (e.g., John), a list of artists for those songs that match thecriteria is shown in artist pane 5505. All the songs that match thecriteria are shown in pane 5515 as well. Additionally, a list of albumsmatching the criteria is shown in pane 5510. A user can further narrowsearch results by clicking on an artist in pane 5505. For example, if auser clicks on the artist John Coltrane from pane 5505, as can be seenin FIG. 56, pane 5515 will display only those songs from the artist JohnColtrane. Similarly, only albums matching the selected artist will bedisplayed in the album pane 5510.

A user can further narrow search results, as can be seen in FIG. 57, bychoosing a particular album from pane 5510. If a particular album ischosen from pane 5510, only songs from that album will be displayed inpane 5515. In this embodiment, similar to the way a user is able tobrowse and play songs from his or her own “my music” collection, a usercan browse and play songs from his or her “friend's” “my music”collection. As can be seen in FIG. 58, if a user highlights and clickson a particular song from pane 5515, that song will be played in mediaplayer 240. Additionally, a user may add a song from a “friend's” “mymusic” collection into his or her own “my music” collection. This can bedone in one embodiment by dragging and dropping the particular song frompane 5515 into the user's “my music” button 222. Similarly, songs from a“friend's” “my music” collection may also be dragged and dropped into aparticular user's playlist by dragging and dropping a particular songfrom pane 5515 into playlist list 232. It should be noted, that thisembodiment enables a user to perform any actions on his or her“friend's” “my music” collection that he or she can perform on his orher own “my music” collection, preferably while taking into accountproper digital rights or other authorization considerations.

In another embodiment, a user may search for songs within their“friend's” “my music” collection by a variable term that is in the nameof a song in their “friend's” “my music” collection by selecting “song”from drop-down menu 5502 and inserting the search variable in field5501. As can be seen in FIG. 59, if a user chooses to search song namesfrom drop-down menu 5502 and populates, for example, field 5501 with thesearch term “fin”, the media engine 106 will return a list of artists inpane 5505, albums in pane 5510 and songs in pane 5515 that match thatparticular criteria. The user can then choose a song directly from pane5515 or choose an artist from pane 5505 or an album from pane 5510 tofurther narrow the search to include only songs from that particularartist or album. As can be seen, for example, in FIG. 60, if a userchooses to view only the “Roger Miller” song in JohnB's “my music”collection, that has the term “fin” the user would select Roger Millerfrom pane 5505 that would display all of the Roger Miller albums in pane5510 and all of the Roger Miller songs in pane 5515. As can be seenfurther in FIG. 61, if user selects one of those albums in pane 5510,pane 5515 will only display songs from that particular album. Onceagain, a user can play, store, transfer, etc. any particular song byselecting that song from pane 5515.

In additional similar embodiments in which a user can search a“friend's” “my music” collection by album and/or genre will now bediscussed with reference to FIGS. 62-70. As can be seen in FIG. 62, theuser can elect to search for a particular search term in an album namefrom their “friend's” “my music” collection by choosing an album fromthe drop-down menu 5502 and including a search term, such as, forexample, “love” in field 5501. This will once again result in the songin the particular “friend's” “my music” collection whose album's namehas the term “love” within their name to be displayed in pane 5515. Ascan be seen in FIG. 63, once again, a user can further narrow the searchby choosing a particular artist from pane 5505, in which case only thosesongs from that particular artist will be displayed in pane 5515. Theuser can once again further narrow the search by choosing an album frompane 5510, in which situation only songs matching that album andmatching the search criteria will be displayed in pane 5515 as can beseen in FIG. 64.

In another embodiment, a user can search for a particular term in thegenre of songs in a “friend's” “my music” collection as can be seen inFIG. 65. Similar to the above embodiments, to perform such a search, theuser may select “genre” from drop-down menu 5502 and enter a particularsearch criteria in field 5501. As can be seen in FIG. 65, if the userchooses genre from drop-down menu 5502 and the string “rock” from field5501, songs will be displayed in pane 5515 that have the string “rock”in their genre name, and a list of artists and albums for those songswill be displayed in pane 5505 and 5510, respectively. The search can befurther narrowed, as can be seen in FIG. 66, if the user chooses aparticular artist from artist pane 5505. As shown in FIG. 66, only songsmatching the selected artist “New York Dolls” are shown in pane 5515 andonly albums matching that artist are shown in pane 5510. The search canbe further narrowed if the user chooses an album from pane 5510. As canbe seen in FIG. 67, pane 5515 will then only display those songs whichmatch the criteria and are from the album chosen by the user.

In another embodiment, a user can search through various identifyingcharacteristics of his or her “friend's” “my music” collection (i.e.,album name, song name, artist name, genre, preference rating) for aparticular search term all at once. As can be seen in FIG. 68, if a userselects “all” from drop-down menu 5502, and a particular search term infield 5501 (e.g., “morn”), the user interface will return all songs inthe particular “friend's” “my music” collection that have that criteriain pane 5515. Additionally, a list of all the artists that match thosecriteria will be displayed in pane 5505 and all the albums that matchthat criteria will be displayed in pane 5510. Similar to previousembodiments, a user can further narrow the search by selecting aparticular artist from pane 5505 (e.g., “my morning jacket”) as can besee in FIG. 69. Once a user selects a particular artist, only albumsfrom that particular artist that match the criteria will be displayed inpane 5510 and only songs that match that particular artist and thecriteria will be displayed in pane 5515. The search can be furthernarrowed as can be seen in FIG. 70 if the user selects a particularalbum from pane 5510. As can be seen in FIG. 70, once a user selects aparticular album from pane 5510, only songs from that particular albumare displayed in pane 5515. Similar to the embodiment discussed abovewith reference to FIGS. 18-32, in one embodiment search field 5501 canpopulate automatically based on prior searches performed by the user,for example filling in the word “mirror” once the user types “MI”.

In another embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG.71, various processors 103 that are connected to the messaging platform116 can be interconnected without making use of the messaging platform116 by being connected to the network 300. Use of a similar type networkis disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/715,694 entitled“Method and Apparatus for Assisting With Playback of Remotely StoredMedia Files” that was filed on Nov. 18, 2003, has been assigned to theassignee of the present application and is hereby incorporated byreference. In one embodiment of the present invention for example, userA uses both processor 7110 and processor 7140, with processor 7110located at user A's home, and processor 7140 located at user A's worklocation. User B uses processor 7120 while user C uses processor 7130and user D uses processor 7150 and processor 7160, processor 7150 beinglocated for example at user D's home, and processor 7160, for instancelocated at user D's work location. All of these processors can beinterconnected without having to stay connected via the messagingplatform 116. Specifically, if all of the processors are connected tothe messaging platform 116, the messaging platform 116 is capable ofsensing and relaying information between each of the processors. Forexample, if in addition to being connected to the messaging platform,both of user A's processors, namely processor 7110 and processor 7140are connected to each other via network 300, and both of user D'sprocessors namely processor 7150 and processor 7160 are connected toeach other via network 300, and processor 7120 is connected to processor7140 while processor 7150 is also connected to processor 7130, all ofthe processors displayed in FIG. 71 can be considered as interconnected.This is because since processor 7110 maintains a connection with bothprocessor 7140 and processor 7130 it can also use processor 7130 as aconduit to connect to processor 7120, 7150 or 7160. This conduit ispreferably managed through messaging program 108, but a separate peernetworking software application running on processor 102 may also beutilized, alone or in concert with or as part of messaging program 108.Namely, if user A at processor 7110 wishes to exchange a media file orother information with processor 7150, it can do so by sending the filevia its connection with processor 7130 which will forward it on throughits connection with processor 7160 that will be able to transfer it tolink or point to the processor 7150 via their direct connection.Alternatively, processor 7110 will receive a location of where theparticular media file or other information is located. Processor 7110can then go and have it streamed from processor 7150, for example. Itshould be noted once again that in certain embodiments, a verificationwould first be performed to ascertain that the user has the properdigital rights to have the particular song streamed to them. In otherwords, as was discussed in other embodiments, the system is preferablycapable of managing digital rights so as to avoid the unlawfuldistribution of media files between users.

In this exemplary embodiment, a network is created in which a group ofusers utilizes their various interconnections to create a network thatcan be used to exchange files and/or stream information or media filesbetween various processors. As can be seen with reference to FIG. 72, aprocessor 103 connects to the messaging platform 116 to obtain a listingof other processors 103 that the messaging platform 116 is aware of andthat can act as a member of the processor 103's extended network. Step7201. In other words, the messaging platform 116 will provideinformation to the requesting processor 103 of all other processors thatmaintain a connection with messaging platform 116 which may be availableto the requesting processor 103 by either a direct connection or throughanother processor's connections. This list of processors that is givenby the messaging platform 116 is referred to as a listing of alldifferent “peers” that can be available to the requesting processorthrough their “peer network.” Step 7202. Once processor 103 gains thelist of “peers” from messaging platform 116 the processor 103 no longerneeds to be connected to messaging platform 116. Processor 103 thentries to initiate a connection with each of the other processor 103's orpeers passed to it by messaging platform 116. Step 7203. This can bedone by sending messengers to each of the processors peers requestinginformation about the processors availability. If the other processorsare available they will return a message indicating their availability.Step 7204. Once processor 103 receives all the information backregarding the availability of the other processor or peers in theprocessor's network, it compiles information about the “peers” includingthe time that it took for the message to be returned. Step 7205. Thus,in addition to having a listing of available processors within theirpeer network, the processor will also have a listing of which connectionresponded faster and thus maintains a faster connection between peersand which connections are the slower ones. Next, if processor 103 wishesto search for a particular media file (e.g., a song), the processorwould send out a search request to all of the processors listed in thepeer network. Step 7206. Each of the processors within the networkchecks if they have the requested file and sends an appropriate messageback to the requesting processor indicating that they have or do nothave that file. Step 7207. Once the requesting processor receives any orall responses from peers within the peer network, the media file canthen either be streamed or copied to the requesting processor. Step7208.

It should be noted when searching for a file within the network, theprocessors searched can include two processors that are directlyconnected such as processor 7110 and 7130 in FIG. 71 or includeprocessors that are not directly connected to each other but ratherconnected through another processor. For example referring once again toFIG. 71, a peer network created from processor 7130 can includeprocessors 7160 and 7110 both of which are directly connected toprocessor 7130. However, in searching for a file or other information,processor 7130 may also in addition to searching those processors thatare within its peer network (namely, processor 7110 and 7160) processor7130 would also be able to search within its peers' network, namely7110's network and 7160's network. Therefore, processor 7130 would beable to also search processors 7120, 7140, and 7150. This is becausealthough those processors are not directly within processor 7130'snetwork, they do fall in one of 7130's peers' network.

When querying message platform 116, for a listing of those otherprocessors that can act as peers to processor 103, the messagingplatform in one embodiment can also supply information about theprocessors state or status such as whether they are actually connectedto the network at that point in time or whether they are activelyreceiving messages. In another embodiment, the messaging platform onlysupplies information that there exists certain processors that therequesting processor can connect to but not supply any information aboutthe current state of that processor. In such an embodiment, it would beup to the processor to connect individually to each processor and/orpeer and to obtain the current state. Thus, through the use of messagingand/or peer connectivity, the media engine 106 is able to incorporate alarger universe of media for a specific user, expanding a user's mediafile access options beyond that user's specific collection to thatuser's friends' collections as well.

In another embodiment, through the user interface, the user can utilizea similarity explorer function to generate a list of similarusers/members, albums, artists, songs, or genres. This functionality maybe performed in whole or in part by the affinity engine 350, whichgenerates the desired list based on the user's ratings, preferences,play data, and/or explicit and/or implicit user behavior. In furtherembodiments, the affinity engine preferably applies a filter function ora threshold when generating the list. The threshold preferably relatesto a number or amount or size of items or actions associated within eachpotential candidate for the similarity list. In order for the potentialcandidate to qualify as a suitable match for the similarity list, thecandidate must preferably meet the particular threshold.

In one exemplary embodiment of using the similarity explorer function,the user can access a list of similar users or members in the network.The affinity engine preferably generates the similar members list basedon the user's ratings, preferences, and/or play data. Furthermore, theaffinity engine can apply a threshold when generating the similarmembers/users list. In one example, the threshold can be set to apredetermined number of items (genre/albums/artist/songs) a particularuser has rated. For example, a user must have rated at least 20 items,and the selected as similar must have rated at least 100 items. Thus,members/users who do not meet this threshold number will not be includedin the similar members/users list. Additionally, in one embodiment, theaffinity calculation can ignore from the list the top N most popularartists (or album, media file, genre) when calculating a similaritybetween two users, as overlap on these artists (or album, media file,genre) has less value in determining overall music tastes overlap. In afurther embodiment, the affinity calculation can reward or emphasize inthe calculation, by giving preference to those candidate similar userswho have highly rated, matching media items with respect to the user'stop preferred or highly rated media items. For example, if a user's mosthighly rated artist (or album, media file, genre) is found to also be acandidate user's most highly rated artist (or album, media file, genre),then that candidate user is given more weight in the calculation. Thus,the candidate user is considered similar to the user and may be givenmore preference to be included in the similar user list. Of course, anycombination of these factors in the affinity calculation arecontemplated. As can be seen with reference to FIG. 78, the userinterface allows the member to access and view a similar members list.First, the user clicks the link associated with the similar member'sfunction 7810 located in particular pane 7815 of the user interface.Then, as depicted in FIG. 79, the user is presented with a pane 7910listing the similar members 7915 generated by the affinity engine 350.The generation may occur at the time the list is requested by a user, ormay be generated as a background function or batch function performedperiodically by affinity engine 350. From this pane, the user can accessinformation about each listed member 7915. For example, the user canaccess which artists a particular listed member rates highly 7925. Inanother example, a user can access which members 7920 a listed member7915 is considered similar with. This allows the user to explore andexpand to different degrees and branches of similar members. In afurther example, the user can browse each listed member's 7915 avatar orother related information such as user name, which artists theparticular member 7915 likes, etc.

In another exemplary embodiment of using the similarity explorerfunction, the user can access a list of similar artists. Thus, in likemanner to the user similarity explorer, the affinity engine 350generates a similar artist list based on aggregated implicit or explicituser information, or information provided by an operator of the system,but is preferably based at least in part upon the user's ratings,preferences, and/or play data. Furthermore, the affinity engine 350 canoptionally apply a threshold parameter when generating the similarartists list. Thus, artists who do not meet this threshold will not beincluded in the similar artists list. Examples of threshold parametersare how many times a particular artist appears in a user's library orhow many times an artist appears along with a particular artist(s) in auser's library. As can be seen with reference to FIG. 80, the userinterface allows the member to access and view a similar artists list.First, the user clicks the link associated with the similar artistfunction 8010 located in the user interface. A truncated or abbreviatedlist of similar artists is displayed 8015 for the user. The user canthen click the “more” 8020 link to access more similar artists andrelevant detailed information. Then, as depicted in FIG. 81, the user ispresented with a pane 8110 listing the similar artists 8115 generated bythe affinity engine. From this pane, the user can access informationabout each listed artist 8115. For example, a user can access whichartist 8120 a listed artist 8115 is considered similar to. Thus, if theuser clicks the “similar artists” 8120 link, the user is presented witha pane 8210 of similar artists 8215 to one of the previously listedartists 8115 as depicted in FIG. 82. This allows the user to explore andexpand to different degrees and branches of similar artists through aseries of single clicks via a simple and intuitive user interface. Theuser can perform as many interactions of selecting similar artists asthe user desires. At any time, the user is preferably further capable offiltering or narrowing the display of similar artists using a variety ofparameters, for example, artists that are more mainstream or popularversus artists that are more obscure or less popular, in a mannerdescribed elsewhere herein, for example, via an interface element 8226.As depicted in FIGS. 82 and 83, the user can elect to display all thesimilarity results 8220 or only the similarity results that areavailable to the user 8225 through system 100/300, based on subscriptionlevel, authorization criteria, DRM adherence, or other limiting factor.

The explorer functionality described above may be applied to othercriteria as well, beyond user and artist, to yield similar songs,albums, genres, or other criteria, utilizing a similar user interfaceand the affinity engine 350.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the method and system ofthe present invention within the application may be implemented in manymanners and as such is not to be limited by the foregoing exemplaryembodiments and examples. In other words, functional elements beingperformed by a single or multiple components, in various combinations ofhardware and software, and individual functions can be distributed amongsoftware applications at either the client or server level. In thisregard, any number of the features of the different embodimentsdescribed herein may be combined into one single embodiment andalternate embodiments having fewer than or more than all of the featuresherein described are possible. Functionality may also be, in whole or inpart, distributed among multiple components, in manners now known or tobecome known. Thus, myriad software/hardware/firmware combinations arepossible in achieving the functions, features, interfaces andpreferences described herein. Moreover, the scope of the presentinvention covers conventionally known and features of those variationsand modifications through the system component described herein as wouldbe understood by those skilled in the art.

1. A method for exploring similar users of a media service from a mediamanagement application comprising: generating a user interface thatdisplays a user selectable indicia representing a similar memberfunction, wherein said similar member function allows a first user tosearch for at least one other user having a degree of similarity withrespect to said first user; receiving, a user selection action from saidfirst user of said indicia indicating said first user's desire toidentify at least one user of said service that is similar to said firstuser; accessing an affinity engine that generates a first list of atleast one similar user in said service, said similar user having a firstdegree of similarity with respect to said first user, said degree ofsimilarity based at least in part upon said user and said similar user'smedia interaction behavior; and displaying at least one identifier andinformation associated with said similar user, wherein selecting saididentifier causes said user interface to display a second list of atleast one second similar user in said service, said second similar userhaving a second degree of similarity with respect to said similar user.2. The method of claim 1 wherein said second similar user has a thirddegree of similarity with respect to said first user.
 3. The method ofclaim 2 further comprising displaying at least one identifier andinformation associated with said second similar user, wherein selectingsaid second similar user identifier causes said user interface todisplay a third list of at least one third similar user in said service,said third similar user having a fourth degree of similarity withrespect to said second similar user.
 4. The method of claim 3 whereinsaid third similar user has a fifth degree of similarity with respect tosaid similar user.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein said third similaruser has a sixth degree of similarity with respect to said first user.6. The method of claim 5 wherein said first degree, said second degree,said third degree, said fourth degree, said fifth degree, and said sixthdegree are ungraded with respect to each other.
 7. The method of claim 1wherein iterative selections of displayed similar users cause iterativedisplay of further similar users.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein saidinformation associated with said similar user comprises an identifierfor accessing a profile page associated with said similar user.
 9. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said information associated with said similaruser comprises an identifier for allowing said similar user to act as aninfluencer so that media files streamed to an online radio stationassociated with said first user are biased towards those media filespreferred by said similar user.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein saidinformation associated with said similar user comprises a user name,said user name being unique to said service.
 11. The method of claim 1wherein said information associated with said similar user comprises atleast one artist said similar user has rated highly.
 12. The method ofclaim 1 wherein said information associated with said similar usercomprises at least one album said similar user has rated highly.
 13. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said information associated with said similaruser comprises a textual message defined by said similar user.
 14. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said service is located on the internet. 15.The method of claim 1 wherein said identifier comprises an indiciarepresenting said similar member function.
 16. A computer readablemedium comprising software code for a media management application, thecode configured to implement functions comprising: generating a userinterface that displays a user selectable indicia representing a similarmember function, wherein said similar member function allows a firstuser to search for at least one other user having a degree of similaritywith respect to said first user; receiving a user selection action fromsaid first user of said indicia indicating said first user's desire toidentify at least one user of said service that is similar to said firstuser; accessing an affinity engine that generates a first list of atleast one similar user in said service, said similar user having a firstdegree of similarity with respect to said first user, said degree ofsimilarity based at least in part upon said user and said similar user'smedia interaction behavior; and displaying at least one identifier andinformation associated with said similar user, wherein selecting saididentifier causes said user interface to display a second list of atleast one second similar user in said service, said second similar userhaving a second degree of similarity with respect to said similar user.17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein said second similaruser has a third degree of similarity with respect to said first user.18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 further comprisingdisplaying at least one identifier and information associated with saidsecond similar user, wherein selecting said second similar useridentifier causes said user interface to display a third list of atleast one third similar user in said service, said third similar userhaving a fourth degree of similarity with respect to said second similaruser.
 19. The computer readable medium of claim 18 wherein said thirdsimilar user has a fifth degree of similarity with respect to saidsimilar user.
 20. The computer readable medium of claim 19 wherein saidthird similar user has a sixth degree of similarity with respect to saidfirst user.
 21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 wherein saidfirst degree, said second degree, said third degree, said fourth degree,said fifth degree, and said sixth degree are ungraded with respect toeach other.
 22. The computer readable medium of claim 16 whereiniterative selections of displayed similar users cause iterative displayof further similar users.
 23. The computer readable medium of claim 16wherein said information associated with said similar user comprises anidentifier for accessing a profile page associated with said similaruser.
 24. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein saidinformation associated with said similar user comprises an identifierfor allowing said similar user to act as an influencer so that mediafiles streamed to an online radio station associated with said firstuser are biased towards those media files preferred by said similaruser.
 25. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein saidinformation associated with said similar user comprises a user name,said user name being unique to said service.
 26. The computer readablemedium of claim 16 wherein said information associated with said similaruser comprises at least one artist said similar user has rated highly.27. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein said informationassociated with said similar user comprises at least one album saidsimilar user has rated highly.
 28. The computer readable medium of claim16 wherein said information associated with said similar user comprisesa textual message defined by said similar user.
 29. The computerreadable medium of claim 16 wherein said service is located on theinternet.
 30. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein saididentifier comprises an indicia representing said similar memberfunction.
 31. A method for exploring similar users of a media servicecomprising: receiving, from a media management application, similarmember search criteria, said search criteria representing a first user'sdesire to search said service for at least one other user having adegree of similarity with respect to said first user; accessing anaffinity engine that generates a first list of at least one similar userof said service, said similar user having a first degree of similaritywith respect to said first user, said degree of similarity based on atleast in part upon said user's and said similar user's media interactionbehavior; and sending, to said media management application, at leastone identifier and information associated with said similar user;receiving, from said first user, a user selection action of said atleast one identifier; accessing, upon selection of said at least oneidentifier, said affinity engine that generates a second list of atleast one second similar user in said service, said second similar userhaving a second degree of similarity with respect to said similar user;and sending, to said media management application, at least oneidentifier and information associated with said second similar user. 32.The method of claim 31 wherein said second similar user has a thirddegree of similarity with respect to said first user.
 33. The method ofclaim 32 further comprising accessing, upon selection of said at leastone identifier associated with said second similar user, said affinityengine that generates a third list of at least one third similar user insaid service, said third similar user having a fourth degree ofsimilarity with respect to said second similar user; and sending, tosaid media management application, at least one identifier andinformation associated with said third similar user.
 34. The method ofclaim 33 wherein said third similar user has a fifth degree ofsimilarity with respect to said similar user.
 35. The method of claim 34wherein said third similar user has a sixth degree of similarity withrespect to said first user.
 36. The method of claim 35 wherein saidfirst degree, said second degree, said third degree, said fourth degree,said fifth degree, and said sixth degree are ungraded with respect toeach other.
 37. The method of claim 31 wherein said media interactioncomprises explicit user behavior of users of said service.
 38. Themethod of claim 37 wherein said explicit user behavior comprises a userapplied rating associated with a media file.
 39. The method of claim 37wherein said explicit user behavior comprises expressed preferencesassociated with a user of said service.
 40. The method of claim 31wherein said media interaction comprises implicit user behavior of usersof said service.
 41. The method of claim 40 wherein said implicit userbehavior comprises data collected as users of said service play mediafiles.
 42. The method of claim 40 wherein said implicit user behaviorcomprises tracking the activities of user of said service as theyutilize said service.
 43. The method of claim 37 wherein said firstdegree of similarity is determined by comparing said first user'sexplicit behavior to said similar user's explicit behavior.
 44. Themethod of claim 31 wherein said information associated with said similaruser comprises a user name, said user name being unique to said service.45. The method of claim 31 wherein said information associated with saidsimilar user comprises at least one artist said similar user has ratedhighly.
 46. The method of claim 31 wherein said information associatedwith said similar user comprises at least one album said similar userhas rated highly.
 47. The method of claim 31 wherein said informationassociated with said similar user comprises a textual message defined bysaid similar user.
 48. The method of claim 31 wherein said service islocated on the internet.
 49. The method of claim 31 further comprisingapplying a threshold to limit said first list.
 50. The method of claim49 wherein said threshold limits said list to only users having apredetermined number of media files rated by said media file'sassociated genre.
 51. The method of claim 49 wherein said thresholdlimits said list to only users having a predetermined number of mediafiles rated by said media file's associated album.
 52. The method ofclaim 49 wherein said threshold limits said list to only users having apredetermined number of media files rated by said media file'sassociated artist.
 53. The method of claim 49 wherein said thresholdlimits said list to only users having a predetermined number of mediafiles rated by said media file's associated song.
 54. The method ofclaim 49 wherein said threshold removes from said list at least onemedia file that is rated highly by users of said media service.
 55. Themethod of claim 49 wherein said affinity engine upon generating saidfirst list, gives preference to including in said list those users thathave rated highly a media file's associated artist wherein said artistis also highly rated by said first user.
 56. The method of claim 49wherein said affinity engine upon generating said first list, givespreference to including in said list those users that have rated highlya media file's associated album wherein said album is also highly ratedby said first user.
 57. The method of claim 49 wherein said affinityengine upon generating said first list, gives preference to including insaid list those users that have rated highly a media file wherein saidmedia file is also highly rated by said first user.